How to Save a Life
by campfiresongs
Summary: Elena Gilbert is a medical intern, fresh out of college. Along with her two best friends she must now work her way through her intern year under the watchful eye of her superior, Dr Damon Salvatore; who is less than impressed with his new intern. AU/AH
1. Chapter 1

A/N- _So this story has been lightly inspired by a lifetime of watching scrubs, greys anatomy and recently hart of dixie along with my own personal experience of working in hospitals. I should mention that I'm not a doctor, I was never smart enough :( but I've had plenty of insight into how they work; especially mean consultants/attendings, however any kind of medical terminology used may be, in most likelihoods, incorrect. _

_Another thing worth noting is that I have done my best to 'translate' if you will the english medical hierachy into the american one but I do apologise in advance if it is wrong. _

_I hope you enjoy it and please, review and let me know what you think!_

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><p>Elena Gilbert readjusted her stethoscope around her neck for what would probably be the hundredth time that morning. She craned her neck backwards, staring at the looming, ominous building before her.<p>

"Well," chirped the girl to her left, "Here we are." She was stood in between her two best friends from college, Bonnie Bennett to her left and Matt Donovan to her right; all fresh out of med school and as green as they came. The trio began to walk slowly towards the doors of the main reception, a large red lettered sign above the door welcoming them to Mystic Falls General Hospital. Elena stepped to the reception desk first, smiling meekly at the clearly stressed and slightly unwelcoming receptionist.

"Yes?" She asked, not even raising her head as she scribbled something on a paper form in front of her, groaning exasperatedly as her pen ran out and she threw it across the desk.

"Erm, we're supposed to be starting here today..." she began quietly.

"You're students?" she questioned, finally looking up at the three individuals in front of her. Before waiting for an answer she began to rattle off in a monotone, well practiced speech "Students have to report to the hospital university building, if you take the elevator to the-"

"We're not students." Elena cut across her, panic almost immediately setting in that in somehow pissing this woman off she might be jeopardising her entire medical career.

"We're interns." Interjected Matt from behind her and Elena felt herself stiffen with irritation, internally trying to tell herself that Matt had not said it because he thought she needed help, he was just doing her a favour...something he frequently took it upon himself to do. The woman snorted, taking in the appearance of them before muttering something under her breath that ended with "...younger every year".

She directed them down the corridor to the staff changing rooms in the same monotone voice she clearly reserved for directions and then told them they needed to take the elevator to the first floor where they would have a brief talk about what was expected of them before being assigned to their attending.

The trio trudged on, following her instructions exactly. Elena balked slightly as they reached the changing rooms that were, obviously, unisex. Insecurities began to niggle at her insides, sending the small caterpillars that had been settling into her stomach into a full swarm of butterflies. She breathed out slowly, pushing the door open and reminded herself that she'd seen plenty of patients in less dignified circumstances and she wasn't any different. The scene that met Elena's eyes as soon as she walked into the room was something like she imagined the backstage area of a fashion show to look like. Everywhere men and women were stripping off to their underwear hurriedly and dragging scrubs over their heads or onto their legs. Bonnie, Matt and Elena fought their way through the crowds and found a space on a bench at the back with three lockers close to each other. It felt like high school all over again.

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><p>Matt immediately began to strip his clothes off, closely followed by Bonnie; both completely uninhibited when it came to these things. Elena, however, attempted to manoeuvre her scrubs over her t-shirt and then take her t-shirt off underneath it, getting herself into a huge tangle. She then moved herself into the corner as much as was humanly possible before wrapping her now discarded t-shirt around her trousers, pulling them off as quickly as possible without falling over and whipping her scrubs on. Maybe she would just come to work in her scrubs from now on, she thought, regretfully.<p>

By the time she had manoeuvred herself into her scrubs most of the other occupants had left the changing rooms, leaving the three alone again. "We better get moving or we'll be late." Stated Matt matter-of-factly. He could not comprehend Elena's inhibitions about her body, he had thought she was beautiful since the day he met her and found it unfathomable that such a stunning creature could be so insecure. However, having known her for so long he was aware that her insecurities ran a lot deeper than not just wanting to get changed in a busy locker room.

They exited the changing rooms and worked their way up to the first floor, finally finding the conference room with about 15 other interns in it, however the door was closed and the person at the front had already begun talking, a line of men and woman in white coats stood behind him. The three of them groaned as they realised they were late on their first day. Bonnie went first, squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath as she walked into the room, mouthing a sorry with a pleading look in the direction of the man speaking at the front, Elena allowed Matt to go next and crept in behind him, keeping her head down and taking a seat near the back next to him.

The man speaking at the front did not stop for their entrance and after sitting down Elena looked up to listen to what he was saying. He was a man possibly in his mid to late fourties, his once brown hair now more grey than anything else and clearly thinning slightly at the temples. He had gentle creases at the sides of his eyes as if he'd spent an eternity smiling and Elena immediately took a liking to him. His voice was warm and reassuring as he spoke about the fine institution that they had chosen to work in, the support it offered to its interns and the leading teaching facilities it possessed, boasting some of the best doctors in the country. He spoke of the responsibilities that would now befall upon them and how they would not be alone in these. His words calmed Elena's nerves and, looking around, she saw that the anxious faces that she'd encountered in the locker room were now more calm and collected.

He clapped his hands suddenly, causing a few of the interns to startle and then giggle nervously, glancing around them. "Right, well that concludes my little talk, now for the fun part." He smiled rubbing his palms together enthusiastically, his skin suddenly filling in the creases around his eyes and looking altogether more natural, as if this was his neutral facial expression. "You'll be split into groups of approximately four or five and each of you will be assigned to an attending. Your attending is your teacher people; they are there both to teach and test but also to _support."_ He stressed this last point heavily and one of the doctors behind him snorted derisively.

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><p>Elena had not noticed this doctor before as he had been stood directly behind the older man, who she now took to be the chief of medicine. He was stood with his arms folded across his chest, leaning casually against the wall behind him as if this whole experience was so utterly boring to him that he could barely keep himself upright. Whereas Elena had immediately felt the warmth of the older doctor she took an instant disliking to this younger doctor.<p>

He was strikingly handsome, Elena deigned to note, he had jet black hair that was slightly long and hung messily around his forehead but his most prominent feature was the two azure blue orbs that peaked out underneath his mop of hair. Underneath his mandatory white coat he was wearing a plain black shirt that only served to further enhance the darkness of his features, causing his eyes to stand out all the more and a pair of slim fitting grey trousers. The clothing screamed expensive and Elena knew that he had probably spent more on his shirt than she'd spent on her entire wardrobe put together.

After he snorted the chief in front of him turned slightly, glancing over his shoulder and smiling warmly at the younger man behind him. "Ah I see young Dr Salvatore here has volunteered himself to go first." He clapped his hand onto the younger man's shoulder pulling him forward to stand next to him. "Dr Salvatore is one of our new attendings, a newbie like all of you." He smiled to himself at his use of slang, believing himself to be not totally past it. Dr Salvatore rolled his eyes, shoving his hands into the pockets of his white coat and glancing idly around the room. His eyes met Elena's for a second but he'd looked away before she could even acknowledge it. "Let's see who we have here then," said the older man, raising a clipboard to his face and fishing a pair of glasses from his pockets and shoving them up the bridge of his nose, still squinting at the clipboard. "Just come to the front when I call your name, please." He moved the clipboard backwards and forwards slightly before focussing on the piece of paper in front of him.

"Matthew Donavan." He called. Matt groaned slightly beside Elena, he clearly wasn't keen on the look of this doctor either. He raised his eyebrows at Elena slightly as if to say 'oh well' before making his way to the front, he smiled at his new attending who met his smile with a cold expression and, Elena thought she noticed, a slight sneer.

"Tyler Lockwood." A boy sitting near the front with dark hair stood up and went to stand near Matt, the name Lockwood rang bells in Elena's head and she was sure there was a Lockwood on the board of directors for the hospital; she had done her research before her interview. Elena was looking at Bonnie, _please let me be with Bonnie or Matt, _she thought desperately. She reached across to Bonnie and squeezed her knee slightly, noticing that her friend's hands were clenched tightly together in her lap. She met Elena's eyes with a slight, worried smile before turning back to face the front anxiously.

"Caroline Forbes." A perky looking blonde girl about two rows in front of Elena jumped to her feet, clearly thrilled to be with Dr Salvatore, and walked to the front, her steps bouncing as she went.

"And finally, Elena...Gilbert." The man frowned slightly as he read her name off the list, raising his eyes and smiling warmly once more as Elena stood, offering a disappointed smile to Bonnie and a shrug of her shoulders before making her way to the front. Dr Salvatore barely even acknowledged the four, who were glancing at each other nervously; however the older man kept glancing over to Elena, frowning slightly.

"Well now, where was I? Dr Saltzman would you like to go next?" he asked as a man in his early thirties stepped forward raising a hand in a shy greeting and smiling slightly at the remaining interns. "It's ok Elijah," he said, patting the man on the back, "I have mine written down here." He pulled a crumpled piece of paper out his pocket and began reading names.

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><p>"Well I suppose you all better come with me then." Spoke their attending suddenly, his voice was not what Elena had been expecting. Although he had not spoken particularly warmly there was still something in his voice that made the hairs on the back of Elena's neck stand on edge, something strangely comforting about it.<p>

They all began to shuffle awkwardly towards the door as Elijah, the older man, suddenly called after them. "Hang on!" He caught Elena lightly by the arm and smiled at her, the whole group had now turned around in curiosity and most of the class that were still seated had diverted their attention to the brown haired girl stood at the front of the room.

"It's Elena, isn't it?" he asked quietly. "Elena Gilbert." Once again he stressed her surname.

"Yes." She said, completely baffled by this man's interests in her. Her mind flew back to earlier in the reception; maybe the woman from earlier had said something about her. She felt her neck redden and struggled to contain her breathing as she felt the whole room's eyes and those of her attending upon her.

"I used to work with your father, Grayson; a brilliant doctor." She smiled politely, adopting an expression she was so used to that seemed to say _'why thank you for mentioning my dead father, I'm so glad you brought it up.' _She felt like someone had punched her in her gut and her eyes scanned the room for Bonnie, now stood near the front with a female doctor with long brown hair.

Elijah had now reached for her hand, patting it lightly. "I'm so glad that you've decided to follow in his footsteps. We're all very happy to have you here."

She heard the swivel of Dr Salvatore's shoes behind her and turned to see her group filing out of the room once more. She nodded and smiled once more at Elijah before following the back of the group out of the room.

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><p>"Honey, I'm home!" Shouted Elena exhaustedly as she dragged herself through the door of her apartment. She threw her bag onto the floor and kicked her shoes off into any direction. "Bonnie?" she shouted inquisitively. Her and Bonnie had lived together in college and now rented an apartment together that was approximately ten minutes walk from the hospital. It was nothing grand, owing to their combined meagre salaries but it was cosy and they were perfectly happy with it.<p>

"In here!" Came the reply from the direction of the living room. Her best friend was sat on the sofa with a large glass of white wine, an open bottle in front of her on the coffee table and a glass sat waiting for Elena. "I thought you could probably use one too." She explained, reaching forward and pouring a glass as Elena plonked herself down next to her on the sofa, curling her legs up underneath her. She handed the glass to Elena who accepted it gratefully, running a hand through her hair as she fought back a yawn.

"How was your day?" She finally asked Bonnie, after taking a large gulp of wine.

"Ok, I suppose. My attending is...interesting." Elena raised her eyebrows inquisitively, "She's a total control freak, and apparently she's obsessed with proving that she's better than all the male attendings. Anyway, I'm sure I'll learn a lot from her."

"What's her name?" asked Elena, curiously.

"Katherine Pierce." Answered Bonnie, she shrugged, having never heard the name before. Elena was similarly nonplussed; it was not a name she had ever heard of. "I can't believe who you got though!" she shrieked excitedly, Elena groaned however.

"He's really not all that special." She said dismissively.

"Not that special! Have you looked at him, Elena? He is smoking hot!" Elena laughed at her friend, wishing they could switch places then.

"Yeah well being smoking hot doesn't stop him from being a complete asshole." She said sharply. Bonnie frowned as her friend launched into a long rant about how awful her attending was and how all his criticisms and condemnation seemed to be deliberately aimed at her. "He just drilled us all day on every condition known to man, it was horrible. And then when you didn't know the answer he'd just laugh and shake his head like it was a waste of his time to have to lower himself to our poor little standards. He's hateful!" She concluded, reaching forward and snatching the bottle of wine up, pouring herself another glass and knocking it back quickly. At this rate she'd be an alcoholic by the end of the month.

"Well," began Bonnie tentatively, "Look at this way, we've already done one day and in 4 more it will be the weekend and then..."

"And then we only have 51 weeks left of our intern year. Woo!" She raised her hands sarcastically. "I wish I was with you." She said sincerely, "I have Matt I guess but..."

"But being with him every day is going to make him even more in love with you." Stated Bonnie sympathetically.

"Don't say that." Chided Elena.

"Why? Because it's true?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow, it was a subject often avoided. That their other best friend Matt had been in love with Elena for the entirety of med school was common knowledge amongst most people, he'd never declared it to her out loud, thank god, but with his every action he might as well be screaming it in her face. She ran a hand through her hair again, she constantly felt guilty that she could not reciprocate Matt's affections, however he was a loyal friend and she couldn't bring herself to be cold or blunt with him.

She yawned heavily again, causing Bonnie to yawn also. Looking at her watch she was surprised to see that it was already midnight and she had to be at work at seven. Sighing she collected the glasses and now empty bottle of wine and deposited them in the kitchen. She said goodnight to Bonnie and climbed the stairs up to her small bedroom, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

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><p>She woke up the next morning to the sound of the front door closing as Bonnie left. The realisation hit Elena like a southbound freight train; Bonnie wasn't due in for a good half an hour after her which meant...she looked at her clock and immediately began to panic. It was 6.50am; she had overslept and had to be at work in 10 minutes. She hurriedly sprung out of bed, pulling clothes off a pile from her chair and dragged her hair back off her face into a high ponytail. She quickly slipped her trainers on and glanced in the mirror, she looked like hell she was aware of that but there was no time to spend any time on her appearance as she grabbed her rucksack from by the door and ran out of the house; sprinting the entire way to the hospital.<p>

Her previous insecurities went out the window as she was basically taking her clothes off before she even entered the staff changing room's, ominously empty signifying that most interns were already at ward rounds. "Shit." She muttered, it was her second day and if she hadn't already made a bad enough impression yesterday this certainly wasn't going to endear Dr Salvatore to her any further. "Shit, shit, shit." She rammed her scrub top over her head and draped her stethoscope around her neck. Slamming her locker shut she ran out of the room and continued running to her ward which was, mercifully, on the same floor. As she sped round the corner she caught sight of the three other interns surrounding Dr Salvatore, she glanced at the watch hung from her pocket. She was exactly one minute late, it wouldn't matter, would it?

"Dr Gilbert, so nice of you to join us." He sneered as she joined the back of the group, earning a concerned look from Matt that she waved away. His deep voicd cut through her earlier resolve and she realised that yes, it would matter.

"Sorry." She panted, breathlessly and trying not to hyperventilate as his blue eyes met hers menacingly.

"Yes well, sorry isn't normally sufficient for the rest of us who have got where they are on their own merit, not because Daddy put in a good word for us with the chief of medicine." His eyes slid over to the awkward figure of Tyler Lockwood, "Well, most of us anyway." She felt her breath catch in her throat and saw Matt tense next to her, his fist automatically clenching threateningly. She breathed out slowly, biting back a retort that had already formed on her tongue. It didn't matter to her whether he knew her father was dead or not, she knew why she was here and that was all that mattered to her.

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><p>The rest of the week went by in an awful blur. Elena quickly learned that Dr Salvatore worked on a reward system; if you answered a question correctly you could assist him in intubating someone, or take a medical history from a patient. However, as Elena frequently found, if you answered a question incorrectly you were likely to be derided or even ignored for the whole day and encounter little experience with actual patients but find yourself sat in an office filling out patient paperwork.<p>

On Friday lunchtime she plonked herself down at the table that very quickly had become her and her fellow intern's location of choice in the cafeteria. Bonnie and Matt were both there along with Tyler and Caroline, who so far had turned out to be fairly likeable if not a little too keen to please on Caroline's part. There were other interns from other groups and it always served as a perfect opportunity for the young doctors to discuss their attendings candidly.

Elena caught the middle of a discussion as she sat down in between Matt and Tyler. "Yeah well I heard her and Damon Salvatore had a fling-" someone hissed conspiratorially.

"What!" Exclaimed Caroline, clearly outraged at the thought of Dr Salvatore being with whoever this mystery woman was, "She's way too old for him." She stated, animatedly waving her salad fork around.

"Who are we talking about?" she whispered to Matt.

"Bonnie's attending, Dr Pierce." He murmured back to her. Tyler Lockwood looked up from his plate of chips and pointed towards Elena.

"Don't you think she looks like Elena?" he asked the whole group. Several of them nodded their heads, obviously only noticing this now. Elena had only seen the woman a couple of times in the week and had not really had a good look at her so she couldn't really deny or agree with the observation. "It would certainly explain why he can't keep his eyes off her." Tyler continued, snorting.

It was her time to be surprised now, "What!" she choked out, if anything she'd noticed that Dr Salvatore seemed to make every effort to ignore her.

"I have noticed that." Announced Caroline disappointedly, "He does kind of stare at you, Elena." Elena laughed and scoffed sarcastically. "Have you noticed, Matt?" Caroline asked, twisting to face him. He'd been quiet through this whole exchange and Elena saw the slight hurt in his eyes as he shook his head absent mindedly, "Can't say I have. I'm too busy trying not to look like an idiot half the time." At this the four interns nodded in agreement, verbalising their assent with moans and groans.

"Well anyway," announced Caroline, thankfully chirpy again and steering away from the topic of the insufferable Dr Salvatore, "We should all celebrate the end of our first week, don't you think? There's a bar right across the street that's supposed to be where all the staff go. We should all go check it out." The group nodded their heads in agreement, as they began to check their watches and stand up to head back to the wards. "Half eight, ok guys?" shouted Caroline over the sound of scraping chairs as they all exited the canteen and nervously hurried back to their awaiting attendings. _Just a few more hours,_ thought Elena, _then I get a whole two days without having to see that hideously handsome, smug face._ She immediately chastised herself for throwing in the word handsome.

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><p>As I said before, I would really appreciate any reviews or suggestions for where you'd like the story to go :)<p>

love

xxxx


	2. Chapter 2

A/N- _Thank you so much for your overwhelming response to the first chapter of this! I was well and truly chuffed, having never received that many reviews on one chapter before. I was so happy to see that some of you had found you could relate to this story and I truly, truly hope that I don't disappoint as I go on. I will be trying to private message you all to say thanks however some people have the pm turned off :( Enjoy! xxxxx_

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><p>Elena entered the bar anxiously, glancing around the room and immediately spotting the blonde haired figure of Caroline near the pool table in the corner, accompanied by a group of other interns. The bar was bustling and dimly lit. Elena appraised the room, there was a long bar stocked from floor to ceiling with bottles of spirits and liquor. The room was decorated warmly and gave off a classy yet not ostentatious atmosphere. Caroline had been correct in saying that many of the hospital staff came here, she had already spotted a few familiar faces, including a group of nurses in one of the corners shrieking loudly as one of them recounted an amusing story.<p>

Elena and Bonnie worked their way through the crowds to greet their group. She had worn black skinny jeans and a heeled pair of ankle boots, a tight purple tank top with a ruffling detail around the neck on top; she had neglected to bring a jacket with it being a moderately warm evening and her hair hang loose and straight around her shoulders. The interns were already in full swing of letting go and an energetic game of pool had been set up between Matt and Tyler, who were both eyeing each other competitively. Matt successfully potted the black and patted Tyler on the shoulder patronisingly before looking up to grin at Elena who he'd just noticed walk in.

"Let's do girls versus boys!" shouted Caroline enthusiastically, snatching a cue from Tyler's hands and grinning playfully. "Bonnie? Elena?" she raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Oh no, no, no." Said Bonnie, raising her hands defensively, "I am terrible at pool, Elena here however-" she nudged Elena with her elbow towards the table. "Is quite the little hustler, right Elena?" Elena grimaced slightly before reaching forward to accept the cue from Matt. "Alright." She groaned while Tyler racked up the balls, the rest of the group looked on intently.

"You wanna break?" questioned Tyler, clearly feeling he should give the girls an upperhand, at least to start.

"Sure." Said Elena, bending forward and lining her sights up with the white ball before moving her cue slowly back and forwards between her thumb and forefinger before smacking the cue onto the ball. She watched as it accurately span towards the balls, sending them clattering apart and potting two.

"Woooo! Go Elena!" cheered Caroline as Elena bent down once more and potted another red ball, followed by a succession of two others before narrowly missing one, but blocking a pocket with it nonetheless. Tyler coughed awkwardly, turning to Matt and raising an eyebrow. "You couldn't have warned me?" he asked sarcastically, shaking his head in disbelief.

The game was quickly won by the girls, Caroline managing to pot the black on her third attempt leaving the boys trailing behind. "Now I need a drink to celebrate." Suggested the blonde doctor, raising an eyebrow at the boys suggestively.

"I'll go." Volunteered Elena, before Matt could object.

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><p>Damon Salvatore had already decided that he would need to find a new bar to drink in. When one of his colleagues had suggested this one to him he had not fully expected to encounter every single nobody who worked at Mystic Falls General to be there. He kept his head down, sipping on his glass of scotch and rolling his eyes towards the ceiling at every shriek from his group of interns in the corner. He had not noticed the group until Elena Gilbert and another friend in tow had entered. He'd watched out of the corner of his eye whilst the young doctor Gilbert make a mockery of her male friends on the pool table; feeling a morsel of admiration towards her. He returned his gaze to his rapidly emptying glass as he saw her approach the bar from his peripheral vision.<p>

"Hi." She said breathlessly to the passing barman, running a hand through her long brown hair and leaning forwards onto the bar. He had only seen her with her hair tied back off her face and had never really noticed the length of it or the way it shone under the lights before. She was also wearing make-up now, not that it made a huge difference to her face. She was different from the other interns in that she clearly didn't spend much time on her appearance in a morning, choosing to focus more on her work. Damon smirked as he glanced sideways to see her edge her torso over the bar, folding her arms underneath her chest; clearly a well practiced manoeuvre as the barman responded straight away, heading in her direction.

"What can I get you, beautiful?" he asked, Damon groaned inwardly, _be more obvious,_ he thought.

"Can I please get-" she swivelled round to do a quick head count of the group in the corner, "Ten shots of tequila?" she smiled politely at the barman as he raised his eyebrows. Damon snorted loudly causing her to glance across her face dropping as soon as she recognised the figure.

"Rough week, Dr Gilbert?" he asked sarcastically. Temporarily dumbfounded by his presence her mouth opened but no words came out before he saw her draw herself upwards and square her shoulders back, she raised an eyebrow challengingly. She wasn't scared of him here, which was refreshing.

"We're celebrating, actually." She did not attempt to further the conversation, turning back to where the barman had begun to sloppily pour out the shots, concentrating too much on the low cut top his intern was wearing than the drinks he was serving.

"Celebrating?" he scoffed, "Ah yes your first week, what a success!" She didn't face him, gripping her hands on the edge of the bar, her knuckles turning white. "Two consecutive late arrivals, barely a single question answered correctly, next to no actual contact with patients but let's not forget...your paperwork is coming along very well." He mock toasted her, raising his glass and draining the last of his scotch. "I'm sure Daddy will tell all his pals at the country club that you're doing just fine."

She didn't remember voluntarily swivelling round to face him, but before she knew it she'd taken a step towards him. "Actually, my father's dead." She stated matter-of-factly; watching the all too familiar reaction. His face dropped and he coughed slightly at the scotch which had just hit the back of his throat.

"What?" he choked out, incredulously, his brows furrowing together.

"My father's dead, has been for seven years now." She replied, dead pan.

"Here you go sweetheart." The barman interrupted them and pushed her shots forward, placing them onto a tray for her. Damon continued to stare at her, remorse crept up his entire body beginning in his legs and slowly making its way into his gut causing it to churn nauseatingly.

"I didn't-" He began awkwardly.

"You didn't know." She retorted, finishing his sentence bitterly and grabbing the tray off the bar after paying the barman. "Yeah, I got that." And with that she turned away, her brown hair flicking over her shoulder as she effortlessly carried the tray to her friends and plonked it down in front of them where a great cheer went up.

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><p>She was aware of his eyes on her as she walked away but she was determined not to give him the satisfaction of thinking he had bothered her. She'd encountered plenty of arseholes who expected her to be wallowing in her own pity party and took great delight in her misery, and Dr Salvatore was about as annoying to her right now as a miniscule parasite was to an elephant. She forced a smile onto her face as she presented her friends with their drinks; Bonnie however frowned and jerked her head towards the direction of the bar, non-verbally questioning her about her exchange with her attending. Elena shrugged nonchalantly, flicking her hand and smiling before knocking back a shot of tequila and declaring "So who wants to be beaten at pool next?" eyeing her new friends challengingly.<p>

From across the bar Damon Salvatore had given up the pretence of trying to remain unseen, he had turned on his bar stool and was watching his interns across the room. He sipped on another glass of scotch, feeling his guilt ebb away with each gulp. How was he supposed to know? Weren't people supposed to declare that kind of information about themselves so everybody knew that they had latent Daddy issues? He frowned as he heard someone approach him and stand next to him, catching the barman's attention with a flick of his hand before two drinks appeared behind them.

"She's good." Spoke the anonymous figure, nodding towards Elena as she bent forwards to take another shot, showing a tantalising amount of cleavage that she was surely unaware of. Damon glanced sideways, dragging his eyes off his intern and recognised one of the other attendings, Doctor Saltzburg or something like that.

"I'm Alaric. Alaric Saltzman" Declared the man, offering his hand to Damon who shook it, noting the firmness of the other man's handshake with mild respect. "Damon Salvatore." He offered, draining his glass and picking up one of the two waiting behind him. "Good at what?" he asked, "Pool? I guess so, for a girl..."

"No, no." Answered Alaric, dragging a stool over and sitting on it, grabbing his own drink and taking a sip before wincing slightly as the first scotch of the day worked its way down his throat. "She's a good doctor, I mean. I saw her earlier with one of your patients; she was just chatting to him, but she's good, _really_ good." Damon rolled his eyes, he'd never come across a test at medical school for how well you could sit and gab to some pathetic nobody about their life. "Tragic story though." Continued Alaric, finally piquing Damon's interest.

"Yeah, dead Dad, got that." He added regretfully.

"Not just the Dad," stated Alaric morosely, "It was a huge local news story at the time. Pillar of the community and his wife both killed when their car plummeted off Wickery Bridge with their sixteen year old daughter, your intern, in the backseat. It's a miracle she survived really." Damon turned to face him, his eyebrows raised; now he really felt terrible.

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><p>Eight consecutive wins at pool later, each celebrated with another round of tequila, Elena stumbled slightly to the toilets, opening the stall she turned around and pressed her back against it, sliding to the floor and placing her head in her hands. She closed her eyes momentarily but quickly snapped them open again as the room began to lurch and spin violently. She groaned and pushed herself to her feet; she staggered to the door and flung it open, heading for the exit. Her path was briefly interrupted by a figure in a tight fitting black t-shirt, she collided with his chest, temporarily losing her balance, however he reached forward and grabbed her arms just above the elbow.<p>

"Whoa, steady on there Gilbert." She groaned as she realised who it was, not even bothering to apologise before lightly shaking her arms out of his grip. "You're not driving, are you?" He asked, concerned. She shook her head, her hair moving slightly in front of her face and he suddenly had the irresistible urge to smooth it back from her face. He clenched his fists by his sides; where had that come from?

"No." She stated bitterly, clearly offended that he would think she was that stupid. "I'm walking."

He had said it before he even thought about it, "If you need someone to walk you home..."

"I'm fine." She cut him off before he could even finish, once again not thanking him for the gesture.

"You're not really in a fit state Gilbert-"

"My name isn't Gilbert and I'm fine, I only live down the road." She snapped. He had been about to protest further, sounding more and more like a father figure and increasingly hating himself for it when one of his other interns, the hulking figure of Matthew Donavan appeared at her shoulder. The concern and yearning in his eyes made Damon want to vomit as he asked "You OK, 'Lena?"

"Yeah I'm good Matt, thanks." She smiled up at him warmly and Damon suddenly felt like he was in some kind of horrendous teen drama.

"You want a ride?" she nodded her acquiescence, walking to the door with him as she barely even acknowledged that Damon was still stood there. It was less than he deserved he supposed but he still felt a slight twinge as he watched her walk out the door, the blonde haired idiot attempting to wrap an arm around her for it to be immediately and awkwardly shrugged off.

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><p>Monday morning came around far too quickly and Elena arrived for ward rounds early, for once. If Dr Salvatore was impressed he was incredibly skilled at hiding it, instead he chose to use the extra time to quiz her on various ailments and their proposed treatments. Neither of them alluded to the incident in the bar on Friday night and after an entire day spent in bed on Sunday Elena was alert enough that most of her answers seemed to be satisfactory; Dr Salvatore failing again to show any signs of being impressed.<p>

The other three mercifully arrived not too soon afterwards and they began working their way around the ward. They had arrived at the bed of a man who was all too familiar to Elena, having been her neighbour for most of her childhood. He winked delightedly at her as the group came to a halt at the end of his bed, peering curiously at him like he was a rare animal in a zoo. "Dr Gilbert, since you're such an eager beaver today perhaps you'd like to brief us on...this patient." _He doesn't even know his name,_ she thought bitterly. If she'd learnt anything so far from Dr Salvatore it was what kind of doctor she definitely didn't want to be. She cleared her throat nervously and flashed the elderly man in the bed a quick smile.

"Earl, I mean, Mr Fitzpatrick, was admitted on Friday with an acute exacerbation of his COPD. His FEV1 was at 40% on admission having been 60% for the last 6 months. He is on regular saline nebs but is still suffering from an expiratory wheeze apically." With that Mr Fitzpatrick coughed violently, clutching his chest as if to illustrate Elena's points. She glanced back to Dr Salvatore for approval but he seemed as if he had not even been listening. He raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, probably more owed to the fact that he had just been snapped out of a daydream than if he was pleased with Elena's briefing.

"Right. Plan?" He questioned, his attention snapping back to the large brown eyes that were fixed on his; he could see her hatred towards him, she wasn't trying very hard to hide it and he couldn't honestly blame her. Although her performance so far this morning had been an impressive improvement on last week's he mentally reminded himself to not be lenient just because he felt remorse for his treatment of her, people were always going to be cruel so why should he be any different? "I'm waiting, Dr Gilbert." He snapped, raising an eyebrow impatiently and tapping his pen on the clipboard he held in front of him.

"Erm, I think he needs another chest x-ray to make sure there's no infection there and maybe..."

"I'll stop you right there, Dr Gilbert." He cut in, raising a hand to stop her from talking; trying not to notice her immediately offended and affronted expression before she quickly composed herself, although not managing to stop her lips from pouting slightly. "Do you think this or do you _know _it? This...gentleman," _Mr Fitzpatrick_, she practically screamed inside her head, "Doesn't need you umming and ah-ing over what to do. Does he need a chest x-ray or not?" he demanded.

"Yes." She ground out, clenching her teeth.

"Then that's settled. Let's move on." He did not even thank the man for his time or for being so rude right in front of him. Elena felt her cheeks burning as she turned back towards Earl, smiling much more faintly now and shrugging her shoulders. "Bye, Earl." She said quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear her.

"I'll see you later Elena, honey." He said kindly, feeling immense sympathy for the young woman, "You go get 'em." He added enthusiastically, offering her a warm smile as she trailed after the rest of the interns. _50 weeks and 4 days_, she reminded herself.

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><p>It was late in the evening by the time Damon finally finished his work on the wards and headed to the changing rooms to change out of the scrubs he'd chosen to wear today and into his own clothes. He massaged his temples as he walked along the deserted corridors, feeling a headache begin behind his eyes. It had been an unimaginably long day and it had only been made worse by the feeling of guilt that had continually gnawed away at his insides every time he criticised Dr Gilbert. He had no problem in cutting the other three down to size; Matt Donovan seemed to just absorb his verbal blows with little or no effect, including any marked improvement to his performance. Yet every time he made a negative comment he had to look at those huge brown eyes and try to ignore the way her lips jutted out slightly and how her jaw tightened and small lines appeared across her forehead. He reached the changing room door and pushed it open with his shoulder, too lazy to reach forward as he looked down to pull his mobile out of his pocket.<p>

He looked up when he heard someone gasp and was immediately confronted with the sight of his intern in a pair of jeans and a black bra. She immediately grabbed a top out of her locker to cover herself looking drastically more embarrassed than he really felt was necessary; it was a changing room after all yet she looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

'Sorry I should have knocked-' he raised his hands apologetically, turning to walk back out the door and tried to rid himself of the image of his intern in next to no clothing.  
>'It's fine.' Said Elena, quickly pulling her tank top down over her torso. 'I'm almost done.' She glanced over as he awkwardly stepped back into the room, she groaned inwardly as she realised his locker was immediately next to hers. She continued to reach inside her locker and tried to ignore the fact that her attending had just seen her in her bra. She sat on the bench and began to pull on her sneakers, keeping her head down.<br>'You're here awfully late, Dr Gilbert.' He observed, she glanced up to see him pull his scrub top off, facing his locker. She noticed the way the muscles across his back rippled slightly as he shook his top loose and folded it neatly, placing it in his locker. She hated herself for the way her breath caught in her throat and how her heart quickened as his biceps flexed as he reached into his locker to pull a crisp white shirt out, slipping it onto his shoulders and turning to face her as he buttoned it up.  
>She immediately looked down and prayed that he hadn't caught her looking at him. "I uh, I was seeing a friend, Earl." She stuttered nervously, "Mr Fitzpatrick." She added, all too aware that he was still probably oblivious to whom she was referring to.<p>

"Ah yes the man with COPD." She bit her lip to stop herself repeating his name, "How is he?" he enquired, his monotone delivery of the question implying that he had no wish whatsoever to learn of the man's condition once he was no longer his responsibility for the night.

She sighed heavily, the man was not well. He had seemed to deteriorate in a matter of hours and when she had gone to sit with him at the end of her shift he had seemed distressed, restless and his breathing had become incredibly effortful. "He's not good." She stated simply, knowing that he didn't care. They soon descended into silence and she returned to attempting to lace up her sneakers, a simple task that she no longer seemed to be capable of doing, her fingers fumbling irritatingly.

"Is he a friend of yours?" The question startled her slightly, Dr Salvatore didn't seem to take an interest in anything but here he was, once again, trying to start a conversation with her. She glanced up to see that he had finished buttoning his shirt up and was now loosening the strings on his scrubs, pushing them down to his ankles and kicking them up into his hands. She coughed nervously and reminded herself to breathe. _You've seen men in their underwear before, stop being a child and just breathe, s_he repeated to herself.

"A family friend, yes." She desperately needed for this conversation to end, to get out of this changing room and to be able to tie her laces! Eventually she resigned herself to tucking the loose ends into the back of her shoes. She stood up and reached into her locker for her hoodie, she pulled it over her head relishing the brief second in which she was completely blinded to his presence before her head was through the hole. Taking a last minute glance across at him, now pulling on another pair of expensive looking trousers, _why does he dress so smartly all the time? _She wondered as she grabbed her backpack from the back of her locker and slammed it shut.

She brushed past him, offering him a weak smile. "Goodnight, Dr Salvatore."

"Goo-" he began, watching her leave. He sighed heavily, sitting himself down on the bench she had just vacated and placing his head in his hands. What on earth was wrong with him? And more importantly what was wrong with her? He rubbed his forehead where his headache had now taken full hold; he briefly closed his eyes and groaned as he was met with the mental image of Elena Gilbert, in her bra. This would take a lot more than aspirin to cure.

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><p>It would mean the world to me if you would continue to review this with your thoughts and any suggestions!<p>

xxxx


	3. Chapter 3

A/N- Thank you once again for all your lovely and wonderful reviews :) And a happy new year to you all! I've been away for a few days so this has been on the back burner but I want to get at least another couple of chapters out before I head back to university at the end of the week. Hope you enjoy it and as always, let me know what you think!

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><p>After another gruelling day Elena was grateful to be exiting the hospital at an acceptable time. Fall was beginning to extend its grip on the days and she shivered as she stepped outside and noticed that it was already almost dark. She crossed her arms across her chest, bracing herself against the wind and headed in the opposite direction to her house, a detour she'd been taking for at least a week now.<p>

She walked into the reception area of the new town gym and shook herself, grateful for the warm air blowing from the heaters positioned near the doors. "Hi!" chirped the girl at the desk, handing her a pen as she bent over the clipboard to sign herself in. Mystic falls had never really been overtaken by any kind of fitness fad but recently a new state-of-the-art gym had opened near the hospital and one too many nights sat watching 'I used to be fat' with a takeaway and a beer had convinced her that a bit more exercise could not be the worst thing for her. If anything, she had thought to further persuade herself, she needed to increase her fitness to keep up with her exhausting work schedule; she had frequently become overtired after a day spent on her feet and didn't feel comfortable advising people on their diet and lifestyle when her experience of exercise when was running to the door to collect her pizza delivery.

Then there was the other reason that kept her coming back. Just one, glorious, tall, dark and handsome reason for why she had spent every night for the past week killing herself on the treadmills until late at night. As she walked into the large, open plan fitness suite she saw her motivation jogging lightly on a treadmill at the end of the room. She tried to maintain an air of nonchalance as she walked over, sipping on her water bottle and checking her watch as if her time for working out was severely limited. There was a bank of around seven treadmills yet she regarded each once closely before picking the one directly next to his and smiling in greeting; the same way as every night. She leaned against the side of the treadmill and kicked her leg up backwards, grabbing it and stretching slightly. The guy on the treadmill had slowed down to a walking speed now, even though he was only in a pair of loose black shorts and white tank top a small sheen of sweat clung to his skin, making him look like something out of an advert, Elena thought.

"Erm, hi." His voice startled Elena and she realised that she had been staring. Mortified she dropped her leg back down to the floor and felt her cheeks turn red so quickly that they stung slightly.

"Hi." She replied meekly, completely mortified.

"I see you here all the time, well recently anyway," His voice was deep and calm and his face seemed to hold the shadow of a smile long after it had gone. "But I've never actually introduced myself." She smiled bashfully, and accepted the hand he had offered her as he stepped off his treadmill and shook it. "I'm Stefan." He smiled again and Elena cursed herself for blushing like a school girl.

"I'm Elena." She choked out.

"I'd ask you if you came here often but that seems a little redundant." He joked, nervously running a hand behind his neck and easing out an ache there. She laughed, hating the high pitched, shrill noise that she heard come out of her mouth."Did you just move here?" he asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Kind of." Answered Elena, vaguely. "Just moved back actually, I got an intern position at MFG." She still hadn't got used to telling people that she was a doctor, plain and simple.

"Oh, so you're a doctor?" she smirked, liking the way it sounded coming from him.

"Yeah, I am." She nodded timidly.

"My brother's a doctor." He offered simply, chiding himself for bringing his brother up and ultimately ending the conversation. "I'm uh...training to be a lawyer," he continued, mentally screaming at himself to stop talking, "Followed in my Dad's footsteps." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts, raising his shoulders and huffing nervously. He had wanted to speak to this girl for ages and now he was talking about his Dad, brilliant.

"Oh...cool." She answered meekly, not quite knowing what to say

He took her bashful silence as a sign to walk away and smiled half heartedly but stopped as another person came bounding towards then.

"Elena!" she called enthusiastically, eyeing up her company with approval and grinning. "I thought I'd find you here, who's your friend?" Elena grimaced and gave her best friend a withering look before plastering a smile across her face, "This is Stefan." She said, gesturing towards the man now stood next to her.

"Stefan, this is my roommate Bonnie." He shook her hand also and she smiled as she realised how few people still did that.

"So..." Bonnie rolled her eyes playfully, "How do you guys know each other?" she folded her arms and observed the two of them closely. Elena looked like she might murder her at any second but she could see the guy was clearly interested, she'd seen him here pretty much every night since her and Elena had started coming here and she wasn't letting her friend give up an opportunity to be hit on by such a good looking guy.

"Oh Elena and I go way back." Joked Stefan, mercifully earning a laugh from Elena who raised her eyebrows at him playfully.

"Back about five minutes." Scoffed Elena.

"Well Stefan, you should totally come to our house party we're having this weekend so you can get to know Elena and me, of course, better." She grinned proudly and watched as her best friends face turned a deeper shade of red.

"I'd love to," he began and Elena already felt her heart sink a little as she heard the intonation in his voice that preceded a refusal. "But, my brother just recently got into town and I haven't seen him in a while; I was supposed to be seeing him this weekend. Believe me, I'd really rather be at a party but duty calls." Elena was slightly relieved to hear that he did sound at least a little disappointed and she conceded that he might even be being genuine, although it seemed a highly convenient story.

"You should bring him too!" chirped Bonnie relentlessly, receiving another murderous look from Elena with delight, however she wasn't going to let her friend have all the fun, who knew what the guy's brother would look like, he could be even better looking.

"Bonnie I'm sure Stefan and his brother have better things to do than-" Began Elena, completely humiliated now and in thorough need of a work out just to calm herself down and work up the strength to kill Bonnie.

"Actually that sounds like a great idea." She was aware of her mouth dropping open slightly as she heard him continue, "At least that way I can avoid any awkward silences with my brother and I'll have other company to talk to." At this he turned and smiled at Elena knowingly.

"Well if you give Elena your number she can text you the address. See you Saturday, Stefan!" And at that she skipped off to the far side of the room, her ponytail swishing irritatingly.

"Ouch! What?" shrieked Bonnie, rubbing her arm where a water bottle had just been launched at her. She giggled as Elena heaved a great sigh and threw herself to the mat on the floor where Bonnie was stretching, crossing her legs underneath herself.

"You are so embarrassing!" She scolded her friend, collecting her water bottle from where it had landed and taking a great swig from it.

"Oh come on Elena," Bonnie sat down next to her, swiping her bottle from her hands and taking some. "I've seen you guys gazing longingly at each every single night this week; I thought I would just give you a gentle nudge," she nudged Elena's shoulder with her own, "in the right direction. You'll thank me later." She stood up and offered her friend a hand, heaving her to her feet. "And I will thank you if his brother is hot." She winked and they both laughed and headed to do some actual exercise.

* * *

><p>Instead of spending her lunchtime on Friday with her friends in the cafeteria Elena sat keeping vigil at the side of Earl's bed. She watched with trepidation as his oxygen saturations dropped on the monitor attached to his finger. Every now and then he would stir and move his head from side to side as if trying to dislodge the oxygen mask that was strapped to his pale and gaunt face. She squeezed his hand reassuringly and leaned forward to readjust the straps around his ears in an effort to make him more comfortable. Earl had never had any family, Elena's parents had given her to understand that he had once been married but his wife had died tragically young and he had never loved again, leaving him alone in the large house that stood next to theirs. He had been a wonderful neighbour and a surrogate grandfather to Elena, who had never known any of hers. After her parents died he had continued to watch over Elena and her brother diligently and would frequently have them both around for tea, enquiring about their school work and their plans for the future.<p>

With every strained rise and fall of his chest Elena felt he was slipping away from her, his finite number of breathes finally running out until he would leave her. She sighed heavily, wishing somehow that she could transfer some of her breath to his. She closed her eyes as she felt tears start to prick behind them and rubbed her forehead wearily; she had seen plenty of patients die when she was a student and although she had always felt empathy she had never pitied anyone and had always remained strictly professional. However, Earl wasn't just any patient and Elena had to frequently catch herself before she fell into the all too familiar feeling of despair that she had shut off for years. It was Earl's time to go, she knew that and she was a firm believer that Earl probably knew that too.

"Dr Gilbert," came a quiet voice behind her, she jerked her head up and twisted around in her chair to see her attending hovering at the end of the bed frowning at her. He did not look annoyed, more concerned than anything, she realised. "Is everything alright?" he questioned, eyeing Earl carefully and noting her watery eyes.

"Yes." She stated, turning back to Earl and taking his hand in hers once more and blinking away her tears. She heard him withdraw Earl's file from the end of the bed and peruse it. "I don't think he has much longer." She concluded quietly, more for her own benefit than anyone else's. As if he could still hear her Earl suddenly wheezed slightly, his chest rising turbulently before heaving a great sigh and relaxing once more. Her eyes widened and she clenched his hand tightly, glancing up questioningly at Dr Salvatore who had now come round the other side of the bed. He lifted Earl's free arm slightly, placing his fingers on his radial pulse before gently returning the man's arm back to his side, removing the sats monitor that was clipped to his index finger. "Go home, Dr Gilbert." He said, firmly but quietly. She began to shake her head in protest but he simply held up a hand to silence her and repeated himself. "Go home." She nodded, suddenly too exhausted to object any further. She leaned forward, planting a light kiss on Earl's forehead and whispering a pained goodbye before leaving the ward and heading home.

* * *

><p>Elena woke up the next day feeling slightly more chipper and upbeat. She heard Bonnie knock softly on her door and smiled brightly as her best friend walked in carrying two steaming mugs of hot chocolate. "I thought you could use something sweet to kick start your day." Bonnie plonked herself on the end of Elena's bed and sipped her drink whilst drawing her knees up to her chest. She tilted her head to the side slightly and regarded her best friend carefully. <em>Another loss<em>, she thought, _how can she bare it?_ Yet Elena looked fine, she looked the same as always and Bonnie felt a warm admiration stir inside her for the inner strength her friend possessed. "Are you sure you don't want me to cancel tonight?" She pressed once more. "No one will mind, there'll be other parties."

"No, no" Elena shook her head fiercely, "It's exactly what I need actually, a distraction. It'll be fun." She reassured herself, "Plus Stefan will probably think I'm standing him up if I say it's been cancelled." She smirked, blaming Bonnie for this whole situation but feeling butterflies grow in her stomach at the thought of seeing him tonight.

Bonnie grinned mischievously, "Well Caroline said she's coming round in a bit and then we can all go shopping." The three had become instant friends and Bonnie and the young blonde had been plotting all week about what to put Elena in to make her look her best for Stefan; Elena having no say in the matter whatsoever.

Three hours later the trio were still trawling around shops, "Come on, Elena! Just come out and show us." Urged Caroline desperately, tugging at the curtain from behind which Elena had been held captive for a while now, various items of clothing being thrown at her. The curtain flung back in Caroline's hands and Elena folded her arms protectively across her chest. "There is no way I can wear this." She declared, glancing down at the plunging neckline of the dress and blushing. "I thought there were rules for this," she pleaded at Caroline and Bonnie who were smirking triumphantly, "Like only show boobs or butt. Not both and you can _clearly_ see both." She turned around so she could see her behind in the mirror, craning her neck over the shoulder to see the dangerously short hemline of the sparkly number. "No." She stated firmly, watching Caroline and Bonnie dissolve into giggles. "Just no."

"OK well maybe it is a bit too Jersey Shore." Reasoned Caroline, already hooking something else off the rail and dangling it in front of Elena "But please just try this last one, I have a good feeling about it." Elena groaned and snatched the dress off her, rolling her eyes and yanking the curtain closed behind her. She pulled the dress over her head hurriedly, not even bothering to look at herself in the mirror before pulling the curtain back, placing a hand on her hip challengingly. "Well?" she asked her two friends who were looking simultaneously stunned. She raised an eyebrow and turned back around to look at herself in the mirror and smiled satisfactorily, almost impressed with her appearance. Going to the gym had certainly begun to pay off and the dress, although she almost hated to admit it, certainly showcased that. "Ok, you win." She admitted to Caroline who jumped up and down eagerly, clapping her hands excitedly.

The girls spent the rest of the afternoon back at Elena and Bonnie's, trying to give it a little bit of a party atmosphere. "That's the last one." Sighed Bonnie, coming down from the small set of step ladders and dusting her hands off on her legs. "Let's turn the lights off and see what it looks like." Elena obligingly flicked the switch on the wall and smiled, it looked a little like Christmas but it also gave the room a good atmosphere. The girls had strung lines of fairy lights across the whole house and each room twinkled yellow gold. Their next task was to remove any breakables, Elena carted two vases off their small mantelpiece up to her room, they were wedding gifts her parents had received and she'd never forgive herself if they were damaged. She wasn't entirely sure who Bonnie had invited to the party, she knew that a few old college friends were supposed to be coming, most of the interns had agreed to come and then there was Stefan and his brother. With that thought her phone buzzed and she swiped it off her bed, noting that people would probably be arriving in the next half hour she smiled as she saw a message from Stefan. "Hey we're running a little late but I'll see you in a bit. Stefan xx." She grinned like a school girl as she noted the two kisses, her and Bonnie's failsafe confirmation that a guy liked you.

"Elena get ready, people will be here soon!" shrieked Bonnie up the stairs, far too excited by the whole event. She slipped into her dress and re-touched her makeup, adding a touch more eyeshadow to her eyes to really make them stand out. She had already curled her hair that morning and simply clipped two front pieces back to the side. She exhaled slowly as she stared at herself in the mirror, it would have to do. She heard the doorbell ring and Caroline scream that she would get it; she heard her heels clattering in the hallway before the front door creaked open. Elena walked out of her room onto the landing, looking down the stairs to the front door and smiled at Tyler and Matt who had just entered, both clutching carrier bags that looked to be full of booze. "The party has arrived." Declared Tyler, immediately heading through to the kitchen with alcohol, followed by Caroline. Matt tilted his head to the side to get a full length view of Elena as she carefully descended the staircase. Her elegant guise was ruined as she jumped the last step and bobbed her tongue at him, breaking the tension slightly. He whistled slightly under his breath "You look amazing, Elena." She smiled gratefully, blushing slightly.

"Thanks Mattie, so do you." She held out a hand and relieved him of one of his carrier bags and peered inside wrinkling her nose. "Did Seŉor Cuervo do you a good deal on all this tequila?" She chuckled and led him through to the kitchen, where Tyler was already concocting some sort of horrendous punch in one of their bowls.

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><p>Almost an hour later the house was absolutely heaving with familiar faces, it felt like something of a reunion and an homage to their teenage days as many old high school friends had descended on the house and were mixing in with college friends and colleagues alike. Their speaker system was blaring at full blast and Elena prayed that her neighbours would tolerate the noise just for one night. She smiled as Tyler Lockwood forced another cup of punch into her hand, now onto their third bowl of the lethal concoction and it seemed like each batch was becoming stronger. Elena didn't hear the doorbell as she was perched on the arm of a sofa chatting to Caroline and another intern from the hospital but she glanced up as she saw Bonnie waving frantically at her from across the room and pointing towards the door. She swivelled in her seat and immediately sprang to her feet as Stefan walked through the door and set eyes upon her. She pushed her way through the crowd of people and squeezed past Matt and grinned at her guest. He looked achingly handsome in dark jeans and a light blue shirt; he was clutching a bottle of wine in his hand and looked around him disconcertingly, not having expected it to be quite this busy. "Hi!" She shouted at him, appearing in front of him and laughing nervously, glancing around her.<p>

"Hi! This is some party!" He yelled over the music, leaning forward to speak into her ear.

"I know," she began, "It wasn't supposed to be this many people but-" She had looked over his shoulder at the man standing behind him who had been facing the door as if he was considering whether to make a break for it; however he had now turned round and faced Elena, her face peering curiously over his brother's shoulder. Her breath caught in her mouth as she recognised the dark hair, dark clothing and piercing blue eyes of her attending. She pulled back from Stefan who had suddenly noticed that she was looking in the direction of her brother. "Elena, this is my brother, Damon." He said warmly, turning to half face his brother whose face suddenly resembled that of someone who'd just been told his car had been smashed into pieces. "Damon, this is Elena." She could not even muster a smile, not even able to find an emotion to describe how she was feeling in that instance. "Oh!" chirped Stefan suddenly, "this is for you." He handed her the bottle and she stared at it as if she didn't know what it was before snapping herself out of her reverie and smiling gratefully.

"Elena where are the towels Tyler dropped-" Caroline came running around the corner frantically "Oh my gosh, Dr Salvatore!" She cried out in one breath, stopping next to Elena and clutching a hand to her heart as if the sight of her attending here, in her friend's hallway, might cause her to have a heart attack. She threw Elena a cursory glance, curious as to why her friend would have invited the surly doctor.

"Dr Forbes." He said, quietly acknowledging the blonde with a nod in her direction before turning to Elena and doing the same, "Dr Gilbert."

"Wait," Stefan had stepped forward, a frown appearing on his forehead. "You two know each other?" he questioned, glancing between Elena and his brother. Elena still looked like a rabbit in headlights as she gulped and nodded slowly.

"Dr Gilbert is my intern." Stated Damon, obviously able to form words a lot more coherently than Elena in that moment. She remained frozen to the spot and felt Caroline latch onto her arm firmly.

"Would you just excuse us for one second?" she begged sweetly, "Please help yourselves to drinks, Elena and I just have a tiny emergency to deal with in the kitchen." She yanked on Elena's arm and practically frog marched her into the kitchen where Tyler was standing over a large pool of liquid, the punch bowl lying smashed on the floor. He grinned apologetically at them both; however Caroline rounded on Elena, still holding her arm. "What the hell is _he_ doing here?" she whispered viciously. Caroline's previously warm feelings towards Dr Salvatore had worn off after two weeks of time spent in his insufferable company. Elena licked her lips; her mouth suddenly incredibly dry as she struggled to find words to explain what was going on when she, in truth, wasn't even sure herself.

"Stefan, the guy I invited, that's his brother." She managed to choke out, "I had no idea." Confusion and shock were now being replaced with anger and indignation. How dare he be here, in her house? Sure, he had been nice enough to her yesterday but, on reflection, it was probably so that she was out of his way more than being due to any actual concern on his part. He had taken every opportunity possible to make her life hell over the past weeks and now here he was, ruining potentially the most exciting thing that had occurred in said life in a fair while. She squared her shoulders defiantly, mentally deciding that she would not let his presence here affect her, they were on her territory now and she wasn't about to lose whatever game it was they were playing. She shrugged herself out of Caroline's grip and opened a drawer, chucking a towel at the confused looking Tyler before turning back to Caroline. "Who cares if he's here?" She asked indifferently, "I'm not going to let him put a downer on my night and neither should you." She grabbed Caroline's hand, "Come on," she grinned at Caroline mischievously, "Let's go find Stefan!" she said excitedly, working her way back to the party.

* * *

><p>She spotted Stefan talking to Bonnie in the corner and her friend waved her over enthusiastically, there was no sight of Dr Salvatore and she thought had probably left when he realised who's party it was. Brushing the thought from her mind she walked up to Bonnie and Stefan, smiling at Stefan and pointing to the cup in his hand. "I see you found a drink." She peered into his cup and grimaced, "I'd be careful with that punch though, there's absolutely no mixer in there whatsoever, although I'd enjoy it while you can all the same because the rest just ended up on the floor." She glanced back over her shoulder to where Tyler had reappeared out of the kitchen and was talking to Matt, who appeared not to be listening to a single word and was stood watching Elena. Stefan laughed and nodded, "Warning noted, but I can handle my drink don't worry." He added cheekily, winking at her and causing her cheeks to flush embarrassingly. She noticed that Bonnie had wandered off at some point, leaving the two of them together. "So," began Elena awkwardly, "Sorry, about earlier." She inwardly groaned, scolding herself for bringing it up.<p>

"It's fine." He smiled warmly, "I was just a bit confused that's all. Unlucky for you though," Elena raised an eyebrow in question, not quite sure what he meant. "Having my brother as your superior, that's gotta suck." He added in explanation. Elena struggled not to burst out laughing; she bit her lip and nodded solemnly, holding back a smirk.

"Oh yes, it's been an absolute dream." She said sardonically, "My days are filled with such joy and mirth that I really don't know how I coped without such happiness in my life." She reigned herself in before she continued and watched Stefan laugh gently, liking what it did to his face.

"He's supposed to be brilliant you know," He explained somewhat bitterly, "Youngest attending the hospital's ever had or something like that, an inspiration blah-dee-blah-dee-blah." He waved his hand dismissively as if it was all he had heard recently. He took a sip from his cup and choked slightly as the bitter liquid hit the back of his throat. "What is _in_ this!" he coughed slightly, clutching at his throat and shaking his head trying to dislodge the taste.

"Sorry!" she cried amusedly, sweeping the cup out of his hands apologetically, "I'll get you something a bit milder, shall I?" She tried her best to walk elegantly and in a straight line as she went back into the kitchen. Stood blocking her way were Bonnie, Matt and Tyler, all huddled conspiratorially and looking in one direction as they muttered under their breath. Bonnie grabbed Elena's arm as she saw her approach, "Elena, what is he doing here?" She pointed Elena in the direction of Dr Salvatore, who was now standing leaning on her mantelpiece talking animatedly to a girl she had gone to college with, looking altogether more energetic than she'd ever seen him.

"Maybe he heard the sound of fun and was drawn to it;" sneered Tyler, "They say opposites attract." Matt snorted derisively, clutching his cup tightly and looking like he might crush it between his oversized fingers at any time.

"I didn't invite him," Explained Elena for the second time that night, "He came with a ...friend of mine." She glanced at Matt who had frowned at this and looked across to where Stefan was standing. "Just...be civil, OK guys?" She pleaded with them, staring them all down.

"I'm not sure that's a concept he's familiar with." Murmured Matt detestably. Elena sighed and walked into the kitchen, which was thankfully empty yet smelt like the sickly sweet mixture of lots of different alcohols, probably all emanating from the large stain now covering most of the floor. She searched the counter tops for the bottle of wine that Stefan had bought and spied it. She reached for it and span around, looking for a cork screw and was faced with Damon Salvatore directly in front of her.

* * *

><p>"Can I...help you?" She questioned suspiciously, wanting nothing more than to be away from him at this very moment.<p>

"This is some party, Gilbert." She tensed at his persistent use of her surname and noted that he had said the exact same thing that his brother had said earlier. She nodded her head, not knowing whether it was a passing comment or a compliment. "You seem to be very popular." She frowned at this, still not really finding a response necessary; she didn't wish to provide him with any ammo with which to fire back at her. "I can see it now actually," He tilted his head to the side dramatically, "Head cheerleader I'll bet, homecoming queen, hell by the look of the people in this godforsaken town you were probably valedictorian as well, am I right?"

Elena closed her eyes slightly and reminded herself to breathe before replying. "Actually I was head cheerleader," She saw a triumphant smirk appear across his face, "But I quit after my parents died." She watched with pleasure as his smile faltered slightly before disappearing completely, "My best friend, Bonnie, was homecoming queen. But yes, you're right, I was valedictorian and I'm proud of that. Not that any of that matters or has any impact whatsoever on the number of people out there in my living room; so what _was_ your point exactly, Dr Salvatore?" She raised her eyebrows as she watched him stumble over his words, he eyed her suspiciously looking her up and down like a predator about to pounce. She knew that she had probably opened Pandora's Box and whatever came at her now was truly her fault but she allowed herself to feel a tiny bit of pride at having temporarily silenced the smug doctor.

He didn't answer her question but waved in her direction, indicating what she was wearing. "Is this all for my brother's benefit?" She felt herself blush as he regarded her closely. She was wearing a strapless blood red dress that skimmed the top of her thighs; she had paired it with thick black tights and a pair of sky high black pumps. She looked good, she knew that, so why was he bringing attention to it? Was he jealous? No, surely not, she reminded herself that this man took every opportunity to make her feel like shit.

"Not necessarily." She answered haughtily.

"Well I'm sure he'll appreciate it all the same, Gilbert." He snapped back sarcastically. She balled her hands into fists, pleading with herself not to throw the contents of the now open wine bottle in his face. He had turned around and was heading back to the party.

"My name is Elena." She snapped, forcing him to turn around and face her once more. "Last time I checked I hadn't joined the army and started going by my surname." He nodded in confirmation, probably not listening to a word she was saying, before turning around again and sauntering back to the party. She poured herself a large glass of wine and downed it in one go, feeling instantly better. She filled another glass and poured an extra before heading back to find Stefan, plastering a smile across her face.

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><p>AN- So...I hope you liked the introduction of Stefan. Also, I felt that I should maybe explain Elena's reaction to Earl's death a little bit. I know that it might strike you as odd that she recovers so quickly from the loss of such a close family friend but I really wanted to emphasise that she has lost so much in her life and has become almost immune to feeling grief. That's how I wanted to portray it anyway.

Please please please start my new year off nicely with lots of lovely reviews :)

xxxx


	4. Chapter 4

A/N- _This is kinda shorter than my other chapters and I'm not 100% happy with it. But I wanted to get a chapter up and so...here it is! The chronology of it too is a little messy, we jump 2 weeks fairly quickly in case anyone wondered. Let me know what you think. _

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><p>By four am most guests had left, Elena saw Matt to the door, giving him a brief hug and thanking him for coming. She walked back into the living room slowly and kicked off her shoes, Caroline was fast asleep on the sofa and she grabbed a blanket that was draped over a chair and covered her with it, smiling at her softly. She walked into the kitchen and sighed as she saw Stefan and Bonnie washing glasses, his brother just stood leaning against the counter tops watching them idly. She reached behind him, not even acknowledging he was there and grabbed a towel and began drying the glasses that Bonnie was placing on the side.<p>

"You don't have to help clean up." She told Stefan lightly; although she was glad he had stayed. They had spent most of the evening talking to each other and even though his brother was just about the most hated person in her life, she could look past it when she saw him smile or heard him laugh at something she said.

"It's no problem." He said, flicking her with a bit of soapy water and smiling as she giggled and scrunched her nose playfully. Behind them Damon groaned and rolled his eyes, he dramatically raised his arms and shrugged back his sleeve to look at his watch. He tapped it and placed a mock look of confusion across his face, "Is that the time!" He suddenly cried out sarcastically, "Better go Stefan, it's way past your curfew little brother." Stefan shot Elena a look of exasperation before putting down the glass he was washing and drying his hands.

"It is pretty late, I should go." He said, pretending like his brother wasn't present. Elena walked them both to the door and leant against the frame as Stefan turned around on her doorstep to smile at her. "Thanks for inviting me...us."

"Tick tock Stefan!"

"I had a really good time." He continued, a slight clenching of his jaw the only sign that he had heard his brother. "I'd really like to take you out some time." The words came barrelling out of his mouth quickly and Elena held back a laugh as she noted how nervous he looked.

"I'd really like that too." She replied, the evening's alcohol bolstering her confidence slightly.

"OK, well I'll call you." She nodded and waved goodbye to him once more as he and his brother walked down her driveway. She closed the door and leant her head back against it, smiling like a fifteen year old after her first date.

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><p>Sunday awarded Elena with a well deserved lie in, her head throbbed slightly whenever she moved and her, Bonnie and Caroline spent the day on the sofa, curled up in several duvets and watching scrubs re-runs. On Sunday evening she attempted to keep herself awake for as long as possible, her night shifts started the next day and she was trying to force her body into the new sleeping pattern she would need to adopt.<p>

She woke up on Monday just after midday and pottered around the house until half six in the evening when she walked slowly to the hospital. She quietly slipped on her scrubs in the empty changing rooms and headed to the ward where she knew she'd be working. As she entered the ward she made her way to the nurses' station, greeting some of the staff there warmly; she was already well liked by a lot of the staff.

"Dr Gilbert, I presume." Came a voice from behind her. She swivelled round and was met with a pair of brown eyes that she knew to be almost identical to her own. She took in the sight of the woman in front of her, she was wearing a pencil skirt, just tight enough to be deemed acceptable in a hospital and a crisp white shirt; over which she wore an impeccable white lab coat that had her name stitched in careful calligraphy over the right pocket.

"Dr Pierce." She smiled nervously.

"My reputation precedes me, I see. Please, call me Katherine." She flashed a knowing smile and flicked a piece of her impeccably curled brown hair over her shoulder. "You're Dr Salvatore's intern, are you not?" Elena nodded carefully, Bonnie had been right about her being a powerful person, even just standing in her presence Elena could see that she was used to controlling everything and everyone around her. "And how are you finding your time with Dr Salvatore?" Elena bit back an honest answer and smiled docilely.

"It's good, thank you, I'm learning a lot." She stated simply, hoping that her answer would seem convincing.

"I'm sure you are." Quipped the older brunette knowingly and flashed Elena a quick wink. Elena found it already incredibly hard not to like her and not to want to impress her at every opportunity; she clearly had that effect on people. "Well, let's get to work then and see what Dr Salvatore's been teaching you." Elena inwardly groaned, _not much_, she thought bitterly.

The shift went by surprisingly quickly and Elena was pleasantly pleased with her performance as she left the hospital the following morning at 7am. She yawned widely as she stepped out into the fresh fall morning, the sun was beating down brightly, without any heat, but Elena appreciated the feel of it on her face. Dr Pierce, Katherine, had allowed her to take the lead with almost all of her patients. The rest of the week's night shifts went by without a hitch and Elena's self confidence had been bolstered by Katherine's encouragement and allowance for her to actually treat patients.

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><p>On the following Saturday morning she drove over to Stefan's house, she slipped on her sunglasses as she turned up the volume on her car stereo and wound down the window, her elbow leant casually on the side. Stefan lived at an old boarding house outside of town, she loved spending time there and the feel of the whole house made her feel like she was in some kind of period drama. The only downside to his living situation was that, owing to the fact that it was a large house, both brothers currently resided there. She didn't feel overly comfortable when Damon was there however, they had settled into a pleasing routine whereby they were cold and detached towards each other within the confines of the hospital and any other time was spent by throwing insults back and forth at one another.<p>

She pulled into the large driveway and sighed as she saw the older Salvatore's motorbike propped haphazardly next to the garage door. She found it odd that a doctor, someone who essentially helped in saving people's lives and maintaining their health and wellbeing would spend his spare time riding around on a motorbike at break-neck speeds. She walked up to the house and raised the large, Dickensian door knocker, letting it slam into the door loudly a couple of times. She could hear someone approach the door and she quickly ran a hand through her loose hair. The door swung open and the smile on her face dropped as Damon opened the door. "Elena." He greeted her tersely, _at least they we're on first name terms now_, she thought gratefully.

"Damon." She replied with the same monotone speech. "Is Stefan here?" He didn't answer her, just simply stepped back for her to enter before closing the door behind her. As usual it took her a few seconds to adjust to the dimly lit hallway of the Salvatore house, the hallway was lined with old dusty paintings and Elena longed to wipe the grimy signs of time away and look at what lay beneath. She immediately traversed the huge old staircase and found her way to Stefan's room as Damon settled himself in front of the large hearth in the living room.

She knocked gently on the door and pushed it open, poking her head around and smiling at the sleeping form of Stefan. She crept lightly into the room and edged her way to the bed before throwing herself onto it and laughing loudly. "Wakey wakey, sleepy head!" She was met with a pained groan from Stefan who rolled onto his side to face her, he inched his eyes open and narrowed them at her.

"I hate morning people." He grunted before he reached across the space between them and pulled her roughly to him. She giggled and placed a hand on his chest and leant back to look him in the eyes, pouting playfully.

"You mean you hate me?" She asked, jutting her bottom lip out slightly.

"Absolutely not." He quipped and pulled back the covers before flinging them back over her to cover them both.

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><p>Later that evening they were back in his room and Stefan was sat on the bed watching Elena. "Oh! I forgot to ask you, I have this work thing next weekend, the annual dinner and dance," Stefan rolled his eyes exasperatedly, "And it would be a whole lot more bearable if I had your beautiful self by my side." He came to stand behind Elena where she was stood looking in the mirror as she took off her makeup. She sighed and twisted her mouth awkwardly.<p>

"I can't, sorry." She turned around to face him, "I have to work that weekend." He frowned and stepped backwards from her.

"Can't you just...book it off?" He asked nonchalantly.

"It doesn't work like that." She shook her head, feeling increasingly guilty. "I'm sorry."

"Damon books days off all the time-" He began bitterly.

"Damon is an _attending_." She stressed, not liking where this conversation was going. In the short time that they had been together she had lost count of how many dates she had had to cancel on because of work. Stefan usually understood but she could see that his patience was beginning to wear thin with her.

"Well can't you just get someone to cover for you, this is _really_ important; my Dad will be there and..."

"Stefan I can't just skip work, if I get caught I'll-" She could see the anger begin to build in his eyes.

"What? You'll get a slap on the wrist, everyone who works there _loves_ you, you could screw up a million times and they'd never fire you! Sometimes I wonder if you even wanna be with me." He was shouting by now and she raised her hands to try to get him to lower his voice, all too aware that his brother was probably in the house somewhere listening.

She rubbed her forehead and sighed heavily, "I do, I do, it's just...can we please not do this right now? I just want to go to sleep." She pushed past him and tied her hair up and slid into his bed. Several seconds later she felt him slide in next to her and turn off the light, never once saying goodnight to her as he turned his back and they slept facing in opposite directions.

She woke the next morning to an empty bed, a note on Stefan's pillow read 'Gone for a run, be back later.' She sighed heavily, throwing her head back onto the pillow and covering her face with her arms. She checked the clock on his bedside table and realised she had slept much later than she had intended to. She rummaged around in the overnight bag she had bought with her and slipped on some jogging pants and a hoody before stomping down the large staircase into the kitchen.

"Morning." The cool voice behind her made her jump and she turned around to see Damon sat at the large centre countertop, drinking a cup of coffee. He raised his eyebrows quickly and flashed a smug smile at her.

"Morning." She replied tersely, lifting the still hot pot of coffee off the countertop and pouring herself a cup.

"Sleep well?" Asked Damon, smirking into his cup as he raised it to his lips. She frowned in his direction and shrugged noncommittally. "So..." He began and she groaned, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the verbal swipes began. "Trouble in paradise already?" He asked playfully, she blushed slightly as she realised he had probably heard every word of their argument last night.

"No, just a disagreement." She answered, taking a sip from her coffee cup as she leant on the surface opposite him and regarded him carefully.

"That's not what it sounded like to me." He threw back, clearly enjoying every second of this. "He'll never understand, you know." This time his voice sounded more serious and she frowned in question. "The missed birthdays, forgotten anniversaries," He listed carefully, "The work events." At this one he smirked knowingly. "For people like you and me," He gestured to them both, "Work always comes first." She snorted and shook her head.

"You and I are nothing alike." She spat back angrily.

"My father's the same." He continued, ignoring her angry response.

"I thought your father was a retired lawyer." She retorted, raising an eyebrow as she thought she'd caught him out.

"He is," He answered, toying with the rim of his cup, "But my mother was a doctor and he was just the same with her as Stefan is. He couldn't stand that his wife was a bigger workaholic than he was." He glanced up to see that she was listening intently. "You see some men, they just can't take that;" he explained, "They can't stand to be with a woman who's more powerful than they are." He widened his eyes and she felt herself blush again under his intense stare. "Me," he shrugged, breaking the eye contact, "I kinda like it." He threw a playful grin her way and she snorted, doing her best to look as disgusted as possible.

"Is that what you saw in Dr Pierce?" She quipped, raising an eyebrow. He took a sip from his coffee and almost spat it out before regaining his composure.

"Ah yes," He nodded thoughtfully, "And how is dear Katherine?" He asked.

"Good." She answered brightly, "I learnt a lot from her, she was really nice." The insult hurt more than he would have liked it to and he downed the last of his coffee and stood up to place his cup in the sink. He nodded thoughtfully and turned to lean against the countertop adjacent to her; she had turned around now and was fetching various items from the fridge.

"Just for the record, Katherine isn't nice." He raised his fingers air quoting what she had said. She rolled her eyes and grabbed a chopping board before starting to slowly and messily chop a tomato. "What are you doing?" He asked suddenly and she looked up, a large knife raised in her hand. He involuntarily took a small step backwards.

"Making a sandwich." She explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He sighed and frowned at her.

"Move." He said, pushing her out of the way with his hips and carefully prying the knife from her fingers. She scoffed in annoyance and crossed her arms across her chest as she watched him begin to slice the tomato quickly and accurately.

"I didn't realise there was a right way and a wrong way to make a sandwich." She retorted sarcastically, trying not to be impressed by his evident culinary skills.

"There's a wrong way for everything, Elena."He said as he threw her a glance over his shoulder. She sighed as she realised his words had a more profound meaning that he could possibly have known. She was doing everything wrong with Stefan, he was perfect, he was Mr Right and she was doing absolutely everything wrong. She realised that the only time they saw each other was when she deemed it suitable, she blew him off because she was tired or stressed and her crazy hours at the hospital made her almost impossible to be around even when she did see him.

"So Katherine's been letting you have free reign then, I take it?" His voice snapped her out of her daze and she snapped her head up from where she had been staring at her feet doubtfully.

"She lets me do a lot." She nodded, "I like her." He snorted and shook his head.

"Be careful with her, there's a side to her that not many people see." He warned, wondering why he felt like Elena needed protecting from the woman.

"Maybe you're just not as good a judge of character as you think you are." She quipped, smirking at him as he twisted his head to look at her again, knowing that she was referring to their conversation in her kitchen.

He shrugged lazily, "Maybe I'm not, but when it comes to Katherine, trust me, I know what I'm talking about." He turned around and handed her a small plate that had a heaped sandwich that looked like one of those plastic ones they use in adverts to make the food look especially enticing. She accepted it hesitantly, throwing him a look of confusion before sitting down to eat. "Look," He continued, he raised his hands in an attempt to reason with her, "I don't want to fill your head with my opinions about Katherine, if you like her that's fine. Just," He sighed, trying to find the right words to say, "Just don't cross her." He added quickly, "She doesn't like competition."

"Why would I be competition for her?" Asked Elena, looking up from her sandwich. Her eyes met his and she understood as soon as she looked into his eyes. _For you, _she thought, before quickly dismissing the ridiculous thought from her mind. He cleared his throat awkwardly and went to leave the room.

"Enjoy your sandwich." He said quietly and she listened as his footsteps faded away. Suddenly she didn't have much appetite.

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><p><em>Please please pleaseeeee review :)<em>

_Much love xxx_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N- I have edited this once already and then my computer crashed and it didn't save so excuse me for any mistakes cause I don't have the patience to go over it all again :) Thank you once again for all your lovely, lovely reviews. They truly inspire me to keep writing. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I hope you enjoy reading it just as much and, as always, let me know what you think!_

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><p>"This is so boring!" Cried out Caroline as she let her head fall into her hands and slumped down onto the table in front of her. Matt, Tyler and Elena all sighed at the blonde's fourth proclamation of boredom in the last hour.<p>

"Yeah, we get it, Care," Said Tyler, as he fought back a yawn, "So how 'bout you tell Dr Salvatore that we failed his test cause studying was boring and I'm sure he'll be super cool about it and maybe even take us all out for pizza and a movie!" He quipped sarcastically before dragging Caroline's hands from underneath her head and propping her up against the back of her seat as she groaned.

The four were sat around a table in the Grill, papers and books splayed out across the table and empty coffee cups sat perched on any empty surface that could be found. "I'm gonna go get more coffee." Said Elena before weakly pushing herself to her feet as she ran a hand through her messy hair and tied it up away from her face. She stumbled over to the bar and stared enviously at the many people enjoying their Friday night by drinking alcohol and relaxing after their week. Just a few hours previously Dr Salvatore had informed them that on Monday they would be tested on everything they had learned and encountered in the last two months of their internship. Their weak protests had done nothing to deter him as he had wished them a pleasant weekend, but not before reminding them that their results would be shared with the rest of the group and whoever had the lowest mark would be spending the next two weeks helping the nurses with their morning washes of all the patients. She raised her hand to alert the bartender and he came over quickly, smiling sympathetically at her.

"Another round of caffeine?" He asked, tilting his head to the side and smiling at her, noting the dark circles underneath her eyes and the way in which she seemed to propping herself up at the bar. "I've turned people away for looking in worse states than you." He said, smirking and placing four cups on the counter.

"I'm not drunk, I'm tired." She ground out between clenched teeth. She was saved from saying anything else by her phone ringing in her pocket. She fished it out and would have smiled, if her facial muscles didn't feel paralysed by exhaustion, as she saw the name on the screen and answered it.

"Hey, Stefan." She said, attempting to put as much enthusiasm behind her voice as possible.

"Hi." He replied warmly, "How's the studying going?" He enquired, "Still at it?" She glanced quickly at her watch and noted that it was gone ten.

"Yeah," She pulled the phone away from her face slightly as she yawned widely, "I don't think I'm gunna make it over to yours tonight," She said meekly, "We could be another few hours yet and then I'll probably just completely crash at mine." She hoped the explanation would suffice as she heard him sigh and she could picture in her head his expression, disappointment tinged with frustration that he increasingly struggled to hide.

"That's fine." _Liar_, she thought.

"Less talking, more studying, Elena!" Shouted a voice in the distance from down the line.

"Is that Damon?" She snapped.

"Yeah, sorry. He just walked in." Said Stefan apologetically, flitting a hand at his brother to tell him to go away.

"Yeah well, tell him I hate him." She said darkly before immediately regretting her words but sighing as she realised that Stefan had not relayed them; probably knowing that they would give his brother far too much satisfaction. "Well, I'm gunna get back to it then." She said awkwardly and wished him goodnight.

The bartender pushed the tray of full mugs of steaming hot coffee towards her and she smirked as she remembered that a couple of months ago this had been tequila and they had been celebrating their first week. "On the house." The bartender winked at her, "You kids work too hard." She picked up the tray and smiled at him before returning to the table.

* * *

><p>"And...the winner is." Dr Salvatore spoke sarcastically and glanced down at the sheet of paper he held in front of him and took a dramatic breath in whilst regarding the four nervous interns stood in front of him. They were stood at the nurses' station in the middle of the ward; Damon leant on a desk behind him while the four stood around him in a semi-circle. He had quickly gone through their dismal tests straight after they had done them and decided that keeping them waiting much longer for the results might be detrimental to at least Dr Forbes' health as she stood in front of him, turning quietly paler in anticipation. "Dr Forbes." He said and raised his eyebrows muttering, "Shocker" under his breath. The blonde squealed and clapped her hands together before accepting the paper back off Dr Salvatore. "Yes, congratulations." He said unenthusiastically, "Maybe now you can ask your mother to stop pulling me over for speeding." He grimaced and glanced back down at his paper. "Second, Lockwood." He mumbled, catching Tyler by surprise who stared, open mouthed at his attending.<p>

"Wait- what?" He asked, staring at Caroline with delight, "You mean I didn't come last? Score!" He snatched the outstretched paper off Dr Salvatore and looked at it in surprise. Dr Salvatore looked up at the remaining two interns in front of him, Elena was chewing nervously on her bottom lip and her oafish sidekick was stood next to her looking as docile and unmoved as ever. He sighed and reached over to the box of rubber gloves on the wall next to him and threw a pair at Matt. "Unlucky Donovan." He sneered joyfully, "I'd pop those on sharpish if I were you," he continued cruelly, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, "the nurses are just starting on Mr Grisham's bed bath. Off you go now." Matt groaned and plodded past him furiously and yanked on the tight pair of rubber gloves.

Elena sighed and released a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. She watched guiltily as Matt walked away and turned around to speak to Tyler and Caroline, "Dr Gilbert, a word." She rolled her eyes painfully and turned back around to face her attending who was stood with his arms crossed, the two remaining papers dangling in his fingers.

"Yes?" She asked harshly.

"Here's your paper." He explained, handing it to her and inwardly wincing as she snatched it heartlessly from his grasp. "Give this to Donovan as well, would you?" He asked and watched as she looked down at both papers and her eyes widened in surprise.

Elena frantically flicked through her paper and returned back to the mark on the front page, circled boldly. _42_, she said to herself, before then examining Matt's in the same way and frowning. Circled, in the same way hers had been, was the number 43. "I don't understand." She said quietly, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Caroline and Tyler were out of earshot.

"Yes, from your test I'd say it's quite clear that's there's a lot that you don't understand, Dr Gilbert." He answered sarcastically, deliberating skating around the reason for her confusion. "A lot of your answers would have been correct if you'd just explained yourself a bit _clearer_." He said, emphasising the last word carefully.

"But if Matt got 43-" She protested, not entirely sure what game he was playing here. He lowered his voice dangerously and took a step towards her.

"Out of the four of you Donovan has repeatedly shown the least aptitude, skill and flair for medical practice." He explained quietly.

"The test didn't cover _flair." _Said Elena darkly, through gritted teeth. "Why are you punishing him?" She was practically whispering now.

"I'm not punishing him, Elena," He stopped and took a breath, it was the first time he had ever called her by her first name when they were in the hospital and he took a second to regain his composure, "But I wasn't going to punish you for _deliberately_ failing a test so that your friends didn't have to suffer." She gasped softly and he felt a slight satisfaction at clearly being right.

"I didn't deliberately-" She stuttered frantically in denial, "It was a hard test...I've been tired and..."

"And you've answered every single one of those questions correctly previously and like I said, you answered pretty much all of them right in the test apart from the odd word slipped in to make it seem like you hadn't completely grasped the concept." He regarded her closely and leaned in towards her, "I'm not an idiot, Dr Gilbert." He whispered into her ear before stepping back and observing her guilty face. "And neither are you." He added quietly and walked away.

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><p>She sighed and glanced down at her paper once more before unceremoniously ripping in it two and dumping it in the nearest bin. She placed Matt's in his pigeon hole and turned to look at the large white board behind the nurses' station that held the names of all the patients currently inhabiting the ward and which ones had been seen already.<p>

"Excuse me sweetheart!" Called a voice from behind her, she swivelled round; her arms crossed across her chest and looked across at the man who had called her. He was younger than most of the patients on the ward but he was still old enough to be her father and at the sides of his podgy face his brown hair had started the inevitable spread of grey up towards his temples. She smiled sweetly and slowly approached his bed. "Finally!" He exclaimed, throwing her off a bit. "A broad who's not pig ugly." He snorted before letting out a hacking cough, spitting out a stream of yellow sputum into a clear cup in front him and then drawing the back of his hand underneath his nose, sniffing loudly. Elena tried to hide the disgust on her face and regarded the small sign next to his bedside.

"Can I help you Mr..." She made a show of squinting her eyes at the name on the sign, as if she had no idea who this man was that she heard the nurses complain about daily, "...Davidson?" She once again plastered the sickly sweet smile across her face.

"As a matter of fact darlin' you can, I've been trying to get one of you nurses' attention for ages now, doesn't anybody listen around here?" He sniffed loudly again and Elena suppressed a shudder.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said pleasantly, "but I'm not a nurse-" She was interrupted by his loud barking laugh echoing throughout the ward.

"Don't tell me they're hiring feeble little things like you to be doctor's now?" He choked out in between his loud laughs that sounded more like shouts of pain. She bit back a retort as he composed himself, dramatically wiping a tear from his eye. "Listen sweetheart," She cringed and ground her teeth silently, "I don't care if you're Florence fucking Nightingale, all I want is someone to fluff my pillows and get me something to eat. So why don't you take that cute little behind of yours," He reached out and slapped her backside and she gasped loudly, "and find me some food in this Goddamn place." She opened her mouth to tell him where he could stick his pillows but stopped herself as she saw Dr Salvatore quickly appear at the end of the bed and raise his eyebrows at her expression.

"Is everything alright here, Dr Gilbert?" No, she thought furiously, everything was not alright and she certainly didn't need him to appear like some knight in shining armour thinking he can save the day when she was more than capable of dealing with this Neanderthal herself. She opened her mouth to tell him as much, in not so many words perhaps but was interrupted once again.

"Everything's just peachy doc," barked out the man, he shook his head in amusement, "Geez, I don't know how you fella's get any work done around here with fine little things like this running around." He reached out to slap Elena's ass again but this time she jumped backwards and shot him a menacing look. Dr Salvatore cleared his throat and raised himself upwards slightly, squaring his shoulders back.

"I don't really think that's appropriate do you?" He said quietly, his words laced with warning as he narrowed his eyes slightly. However the man seemed undeterred and let another shout of laughter.

"And what are you, her boyfriend?" He sneered loudly.

"Close enough." He answered carefully, his voice unwaveringly calm and Elena found herself looking at him and raising her eyebrows slowly, "And if I were you," He continued darkly, "I wouldn't make a habit out of pissing off the member of staff who has to take your blood every day, sometimes these interns," he sighed dramatically and shook his head, "they're so damn clumsy and one little slip..." he let the 'p' pop against his lips, "and its game over for you. I mean, there's all kinds of important structures in there, am I right Dr Gilbert?" He glanced up at her, "Nerves and veins and whatnot and I'm sure a single man like you needs full use of his hands." He finished, smirking menacingly, his voice now barely a whisper. The man sat open mouthed and gulped loudly; Dr Salvatore swivelled around on the heel of his shoe and began to walk away before glancing over his shoulder to where Elena was still stood on the spot, flabbergasted. "Dr Gilbert?" He asked quietly, jerking his head to indicate that she should follow.

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><p>He had threatened a patient, the thought screamed through her mind wildly; he had threatened to possibly paralyse a man's hands for touching her. <em>No<em>, she corrected herself, _not for touching you, don't make this about you, he would have done that for anyone, wouldn't he?_ She followed him blindly, not really paying attention to where they were going until she found herself in one of the family waiting rooms that was just off the ward. He slid the sign on the door to 'In Use' and closed it behind him, leaning against it and looking at her as she stood in the middle of the room, her confusion evidently plastered all over her face. "Are you alright?" He asked her quietly. She slowly nodded although her insides were screaming the opposite. She turned around and looked behind her, thinking she should sit down in one of the large armchairs but then deciding against it she turned back to face him, raised a shaky hand to her forehead and brought her other arm across her middle.

"What-" she struggled to get a sentence out, "Why did you say you were my boyfriend?" She asked quickly, it suddenly being the only question she wanted to know the answer to.

He laughed slightly under his breath and she felt like her blood would boil with rage any second now. "I didn't think he really needed the whole you're dating my baby brother back story in that instant, Elena. In the future I'll make sure I fill people in more thoroughly." He said bitterly, wondering why it was the first thing she had asked him. Hell, would it kill her to say thank you once in a while?

"I didn't...I just..." she stuttered, changing her mind again and throwing herself into one of the armchairs. "You didn't have to..." She sighed and buried her head into her hands, frantically running them through her hair. He came to stand opposite her, perching himself on the arm of the other armchair.

"Your gratitude is overwhelming." He spat out.

"I'm sorry," She furiously tried to explain herself, "I just...I don't need protecting." She jumbled out hurriedly. He shook his head and snorted again, she snapped her head up to look at him, the amused glint in his eyes was the straw that broke the camel's back. She shot out of her chair to stand up and face him, pointing at him threateningly. "Stop doing that." She warned furiously.

"Doing what?" He asked innocently laughing slightly again.

"Acting like everything I say is a joke to you!" She screamed and he flinched slightly at her outburst, "Silly little Elena," she cried out mockingly, "She doesn't have a clue what she's talking about." She flailed her arms dramatically though his face remained entirely serious as he watched her unravel in front of him, "I don't need you, or anyone else, protecting me or thinking that I need to be protected. I didn't need your help back there-"

"Because you seemed to have the situation _completely_ under control" He mumbled, never once taking his eyes off her.

"I did have it under control!" She exploded, "You don't think I've had my fair share of putting sleazy guys like that in their place!" She asked wildly, "And I don't have to do it by threatening people." She added, her volume dropping slightly. "And as for the test," she continued, "Maybe I did fail it on purpose, but you know why I did? Because I'm not afraid of you," She pointed her finger in his face again and took a step towards him, drastically reducing the space between them, "I can take the snide comments and the jokes about my intellect but I can't _stand _the way you talk to Matt like he's a piece of shit on the bottom of your shoe. He is a good person damn it and I wasn't going to stand back and give you an excuse to treat him like crap." She finished, gasping for breath but defiantly meeting his stare. He had remained still throughout her entire outburst, still leaning calmly against the chair with his arms folded, his expression remaining impassive.

He pushed himself off the support of the chair and sighed, puffing his cheeks up with air before letting it slide through his pursed lips. "Well," he brushed an imaginary mark off his trousers and looked up at her, "I'm glad you got that out of your system." He brushed past her and opened the door, letting it slam behind him and leaving her standing alone in the middle of the room seething quietly.

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><p>She didn't see her attending for the rest of the day and at the end of the day she walked home, alone with her thoughts. It had grown a lot colder now and she folded her arms across herself to keep herself warm. The roads were relatively quiet as she walked along the side of the street, most people taking the darker nights as an excuse to leave work early. A roaring noise behind her caused her to frown and turn around as a black motorbike screeched past her, she whipped her head around to follow its path and in seconds it had disappeared out of sight, travelling unbelievably fast. Even with a helmet on Elena could not mistake the unavoidable shape of her attending as he leaned forward on the bike. She shook her head dismissively and continued her journey home.<p>

Damon slammed the door to the boarding house loudly, he threw his keys haphazardly onto the nearest table and immediately headed into the living room, ignoring all other things and grabbing the decanter full of scotch, pouring himself a glass and instantly knocking it back. He hissed as it hit the back of his throat and he discarded the glass, settling for the neck of the decanter instead. He poured a large glug down his throat and worked a crick out of his neck. Someone nearby cleared their throat and his attention became focussed on his younger brother who was sprawled on a sofa with a book in his hands; he raised an eyebrow at Damon in question. "Bit early in the week for binge drinking, isn't it?" He asked light-heartedly as he watched his brother take another sustained swig from the bottle.

Damon was saved from telling his brother exactly why he had resorted to drinking heavily on week nights by the sound of Stefan's phone ringing. "Hey, baby." He cooed pathetically into the handset, Damon cringed and swallowed back the gastric reflux that he encountered whenever his brother and Elena were together. _Baby_, he thought mockingly, _did she really like that? Did any women like that for that matter?_ He swiftly exited the room as he heard his brother ask her how her day had been, "...that's too bad hun, what happened?" _I'll tell you what happened_, he kicked the door to his room shut loudly, _I had to step in to save your bloody girlfriend from being molested and suddenly she's the one with all the problems. _He unbuttoned his shirt furiously and flung it onto the floor, why had he stepped in? He began to question his actions, surely a path to self destruction. What was it about that girl that had made him physically threaten a patient? Then the image of the man's hands on her, her outraged and unnerved expression and the way the guy's eyes had twinkled with the anticipation of some kind of male bonding over the act flashed before his eyes and he felt his fist clench involuntarily. The guy had been lucky he'd gotten off with a warning. If he hadn't been lying in a bed in a hospital he was absolutely certain that he would have been after Damon had finished with him.

He'd been protecting her honour, he told himself uncertainly, for his brother's sake. He threw himself onto the bed and her face passed before his eyes again, her finger pointed towards him, the only real barrier between them and the few centimetres of room that she'd left when she'd been screaming in his face. He groaned and crossed his legs awkwardly and glanced down at his crotch, biting his lip. Not for the first time where Elena Gilbert was involved he asked himself what the hell was wrong with him as he crossed his room and turned his shower on, turning the taps down to cold.

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><p><em>I do love a good argument ;) Please review xxxx<em>


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N- Oh my goodness, I can't believe I hit one hundred reviews! That is such a big deal for me and I honestly can't even express how grateful I am for all your comments. I really really hope that you enjoy this chapter. _

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><p>On Tuesday Elena sat alone in the canteen at lunch, her other fellow interns had been called back by Dr Salvatore to look at what he considered an interesting patient, however he had informed her that it would be of no interest to her and dismissed her. She sighed, she had asked for this she supposed. She had told him that she could take his criticism and the thinly disguised disdain for her and now that he was laying it on thick she just had to button up and shoulder it. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of breaking her and she certainly wasn't going to beg for him to let her in on whatever interesting condition he'd drummed up for the others. Besides, there were plenty of senior doctors in this place that would offer her any opportunity she wanted, simply because her surname was Gilbert.<p>

She was broken out of her daydream as one of said doctors sat down in front of her. "Eating alone, Dr Gilbert?" She smiled in greeting at the brown haired doctor, impeccably dressed as always, she laid out an elaborate looking salad and Elena noted that she hadn't really expected her to produce a soggy ham sandwich, everything the woman did suited her to a tee. "That's not like you," she continued, "usually you seem to have no shortage of friends."

"They're all a bit busy." She answered meekly, suddenly a bit grateful that they weren't present, affording her a chance to speak to her new idol.

"Oh well, that's a pity but you and I can be lunch buddies instead." She winked playfully and Elena felt herself smile immediately. "So..." Katherine drew the vowel out slowly as if they were two old friends gossiping. "Rumour has it that you've snagged yourself a Salvatore." Elena jerked her head upwards in panic as her previous conversation with Damon rang in her ears before she calmed herself and reminded herself that she probably meant Stefan.

She laughed slightly and nodded, "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Something about the attending made her feel comfortable talking about this with her, even though she barely knew anything about Katherine herself.

"Stefan's a sweet guy," she told Elena sagely, "Not a bit like his brother." She added and Elena nodded grimly, unable to help herself, she'd got that right for certain. The two couldn't be less alike.

"How do you know them both?" She found herself asking and immediately regretted it. Katherine had never voluntarily shared any information about herself with Elena and she realised that all her interest had been entirely focussed on finding as much about Elena as possible. Katherine smiled knowingly, not visibly annoyed and Elena allowed herself to relax a little.

"Me and Damon, Dr Salvatore that is, trained together. I knew him all through medical school and through him, got introduced to the whole Salvatore clan." Elena nodded and realised that although she clearly hadn't known Stefan for as long as Katherine had known Damon, he had never been particularly forthcoming about information surrounding his family. She was still yet to meet his father, the only mention of a mother had come from Damon's lips and she couldn't honestly work out whether she was dead or alive. Although their house was adorned with old paintings and photographs, none of them contained any evidence of a current family and she was reluctant to broach the subject. "Have you met...Giuseppe?" questioned Katherine, regarding Elena from underneath her eyelashes as she looked down at her lunch. Elena noticed that there was more curiosity in her voice than normal and she shook her head.

"No, I haven't." She explained, "He doesn't live around here..." she trailed off; at least she didn't think he lived around here.

"No, no, of course not." Added Katherine, as if she'd suddenly answered her own question. "It's just that he pops in, from time to time. Just to make sure they're keeping the place in order and check up on them, well...mostly Damon."

"Why Damon?" Elena could have clapped her hand to her mouth as the question came tumbling out accidentally.

Katherine chuckled lightly before continuing, "You know Damon, well maybe you don't actually, I mean he's doing this whole responsible doctor act very well," She raised her hands to air quote mockingly, "But he's the black sheep of the family, something of a rebel." She concluded. Elena nodded; trying to act like this came as no surprise to her, but had it anyway? Stefan was so calm and collected but she didn't find it hard to believe that Damon could go off the rails at times. There was something so...untamed about him that she struggled to put her finger on.

Elena regarded the brunette in front of her carefully, what part did she play in all this? It certainly seemed like the rumours were true about her and her attending yet he had spoken about her with such contempt, it can't have ended well. Yet here she was, freely offering information about the brothers to Elena, like it was hers to dish out. Elena heard the sound of a chair scraping back and Bonnie plonked herself down next to her, smiling at her attending. "Hello, Dr Pierce."

Katherine smiled back and closed the lid on her lunch, "And that's my cue I think," She stood up, scraping her own chair back and smoothing down her skirt. "Have a nice day, Elena." She added as she sauntered away, the way her hips sashayed as she walked earning her more than a few glances from men sat in the canteen.

"What were you two talking about?" Asked Bonnie innocently, she was just as fond of her attending as Elena was so she was pleased to see the two were well acquainted.

"Nothing much," Answered Elena, still in a daydream.

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><p>Damon's watch bleeped quietly, startling him as he sat in an empty office that Friday evening. He glanced down to see that it was nine pm; he tossed another set of notes onto the completed pile on his right, sighed and rubbed the back of his neck irritatingly. It was a sure fire sign that he wasn't designed to be sat at a desk for lengthy periods when his neck groaned in irritation at the slightest of sustained flexion. Delighted he looked down to realise that that had been his last set of notes for the evening. He stood up and made his way out of the office, flicking the light off behind him.<p>

On his way out he bumped into Alaric, his favourite and albeit only, drinking partner in this town.

"Oh hey man." He greeted him jovially, happy that he had managed to escape work at an almost reasonable hour tonight. "I'm just headed to the grill, fancy a drink?" He asked.

His colleague looked exhausted, his white coat was grubby and everything about him looked like he could use a stiff drink, a shower and a good night's sleep. Damon could only really take care of one of those but he was all too happy to oblige in the supply of alcohol. "I can't," sighed Alaric, grimacing as his pager beeped obnoxiously in his pocket, "I'm on call, sorry." He began to sprint down the corridor, waving a hand to Damon as he went.

Damon groaned, it did seem a little too pathetic for his liking to show up to the hospital's most popular bar alone. However, he was in desperate need of a drink and this awful town seemed to only possess one bar where you weren't likely to be either shot for not wearing cowboy boys or dragged up on stage to sing some horrendous Dolly Parton song. He hung his white coat in his locker and shrugged a leather jacket on over his shirt and trousers. He crossed the road to the bar and entered with his head down, heading straight for the bar. He threw himself onto a stool and was just about settled when he heard the unmistakable shriek of Caroline Forbes behind him. He kept his shoulders hunched and threw a cursory glance over his shoulder; she was stood over by the pool table with the Lockwood kid, having clearly just made a shot. "Elena, did you see?" She cried as she turned to the brown haired girl sat alone at a nearby table, cradling a drink. She nodded slightly and then dropped her head down again, looking utterly miserable. Her friend seemed to be completely oblivious to this as she bent down again and threw a flirtatious look over her shoulder to Lockwood, who bent over, paralleling her movements and guiding her hands over the cue.

Damon rolled his eyes and turned back to the bar, her words ringing viciously in his ears as he fought the urge to go over there and sit down next to her. She doesn't need looking after, got it. He reminded himself and grabbed the large scotch the bartender had just placed in front of him. He latched onto the bartender's wrist as he turned to serve someone else, "Actually buddy," He said quietly, downing his drink, "Just leave the bottle." The bartender shrugged and placed the almost full bottle in front of him.

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><p>Almost an hour later Elena was still sat with her head down, playing on her phone. Caroline was still getting pool lessons from Tyler, surprisingly showing little improvement, although from Elena's experience she was a perfectly capable pool player. However the pair both seemed to feel she needed more work as Caroline continued to let Tyler lean closely into her. She sipped her coke slowly, times were a little hard and she was trying to make it last. Her back was to the bar so she never saw the dark figure stand up unsteadily, push himself off his bar stool and stagger towards her. The first indication that she had noticed anything was when she sniffed as the strong and acrid smell of alcohol drafted over to her. She wrinkled her nose and turned around to see her attending hovering over her. She groaned as he threw himself into the chair opposite her, looking like he had lost the use of his legs. "Drinking alone, Elena?" He asked, she folded her arms and shot him daggers. After a few seconds she decided that sitting in silence watching him was just as annoying as speaking to him.<p>

"I got ditched." She answered shortly and jerked her head over to where Caroline and Tyler were giggling. Her friend was now sat on the edge of the pool table with the brown haired boy stood provocatively between her legs, with his hands on her hips. Damon swivelled round to look at the pair and smirked, he didn't know the kid had it in him.

"Where's the witless wonder?" He asked, his eyes scanning the room for her other blonde friend, the great lummox had to be around here somewhere. She narrowed her eyes at him and he chuckled, raising his hands in defence. "I was joking, Elena." He slurred the last syllable of her name and brought the hand that had been dangling underneath the table up, clutching the near empty bottle of scotch in it.

"He's on nights. Are you drunk?" She asked, visibly disgusted.

He shrugged, raising his arms and laughing again as she folded her arms once more and wrinkled her nose up at the sight of him. "Aren't you?" He asked mockingly, swiping her drink from in front of her and sniffing it before placing it back in front of her and shaking his head in disappointment. "I'm surprised I haven't driven you to drink yet." He said, taking another large swig of the scotch.

"I wouldn't give you the satisfaction of having that effect on me." She snapped and tried to reach forward to snatch the bottle out of his fingers. However he shot his hand backwards, his reflexes clearly not altogether impaired and waggled a finger at her, tutting disapprovingly. Suddenly his face dropped and he looked altogether more serious.

"Do I?" He asked quietly, intensely meeting her eyes.

"Do you, what?" She enquired, trying not to break the eye contact but feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

"Have an effect on you?" He asked, fingering the neck of the bottle delicately. She looked like she was considering his question for a second before her eyes turned cold.

"No." She said defiantly and finished the rest of her coke before standing up. She didn't bother saying her goodbyes to Caroline; she was now too caught up in examining the inside of Tyler's mouth with her tongue anyway. She flung her jacket on and started to walk out the door.

He waited for approximately three seconds before he pushed himself to his feet, downing the rest of the scotch in a flourish and staggered after her. He caught up to her just as she was crossing the car park. "Elena, wait!" He called and she turned on her heel to glare at him, her arms folded across her chest, a small jacket all that was protecting her from the cold.

"What?" She snapped, raising an eyebrow. He had been about to offer to walk her home, however he flashed back to their argument from earlier in the week and thought better of it; also he seemed to be about to lose the use of his legs. He realised that apart from his friend who was currently on call he didn't have a single friend in this town to ring to ask for a ride. There was always Katherine, but he'd rather sleep in a ditch than let that bitch have the satisfaction of gloating at him in his current state. His knees felt like they were about to disintegrate and he grabbed onto the hood of the nearest car to steady himself. Elena was stood over him immediately, dragging him upwards and looping his arm over her shoulder. As well as his lower limb function his speech seemed to be failing him and he managed to slur out a jumbled mix of sounds that he'd wanted to sound like 'I'm fine.'

Clearly not comprehending him or perhaps simply ignoring him she hauled him back to the bar's entrance and propped him up against the cool brick wall. She stood in front of him, poised in case he suddenly fell over, and fished her phone out of her bag. She hurriedly dialled a number and cursed under her breath as she listened to it ring. "Come on Stefan, pick up." She muttered, cursing again as she pressed the end call button as it went to voicemail. She tried again, to no avail and accepted that he would not be coming to her rescue tonight. She looked at her attending and groaned, why did she have to be so damn responsible all the time? She knew that a cab wouldn't take him; he didn't even have a car that she could drive and she wasn't going to get on that ridiculous motorbike even she knew how to ride it. She looked down the road and realised there was only one thing for it. "Come on, boozy." She said, stepping forward, placing his arm around her shoulder once more and dragging him back into an upright position.

"Don't you have a car?" He managed to slur, silently quite pleased with himself for getting the words out.

"I live like, ten minutes away." She groaned under his weight and shifted him to try and make effectively carrying him an easier task.

"Have you been working out?" He teased.

"I will drop you, Salvatore." She warned and he buttoned it, mercifully far too drunk to be embarrassed at what was happening.

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><p>Almost half an hour later they arrived at her front door, Bonnie was working nights that week so Elena knew the house would be empty. She managed to balance him against her doorpost and she searched for keys before producing them and letting them in. "I've been here before!" He exclaimed, as if it was some kind of revelation.<p>

"No kidding." She replied, dragging him into the house and then kicking the door shut behind her. "I can't drive you home," She explained as she managed to haul him into the living room and practically threw him onto her couch, "My car's in the shop." _Great_, she thought, _you have your inebriated attending in your house, on your sofa. Now what do you intend to do? _ She rolled her eyes as she realised he had closed his already, his face crushed amusingly against the cushions and his legs dangling off the edge. She went into the kitchen, slipped off her jacket and searched for a glass.

Damon let his eyes slip closed and felt sleep fight to overtake him. He was suddenly aware that he was lying on something horrendously uncomfortable and hard, he managed to move his hand and dig out a hard back book that had been shoved down the side of the couch. He blinked and tried to focus his eyes, it was a copy of Gray's Anatomy and he frowned at it and pushed himself up slightly. He flicked the first page open and saw that there was an inscription in careful, black handwriting. "Dearest Elena," it read, "I hope that one day you will find this useful, even vets should know their anatomy. Happy sixteenth birthday my darling, with love, as always, your Father." Damon frowned and felt his buzz slowly slip away; he snapped the book shut hurriedly as he heard Elena approach the living room. He held it guiltily in his hands as she arrived in the room with a large glass of water and presented it to him. "Here." She said sharply and handed him a white tablet. He eyed her suspiciously.

"Are you trying to roofie me?" He asked light-heartedly and she rolled her eyes.

"Its paracetamol idiot, trust me, you'll need it." She whacked his arm slightly and ushered him up the couch so she could sit down, it was the only remotely comfortable seat in the living room. She curled her feet up underneath her and glanced down at the book in his lap. "What are you doing with this old thing?" She picked the battered book out of his grasp and turned it over in her hands before automatically flipping the front page open. A sad smile crossed her lips, the only indication that she had noticed the dedication.

"What's the vet thing all about?" He asked, deciding not to lie and pretend he hadn't read the note.

"That's what I wanted to be." She answered, not looking up at him as she flicked through the pages absentmindedly.

"What changed your mind?"

"Turns out I don't actually really like animals all that much." She laughed and he realised it was probably the first time he had heard the sound escape from her. She suddenly rose to her feet and reached behind him for the blanket that was flung across the back of the sofa. "Here," she said, flinging it at him. "You should try and sleep it off; you'll feel like shit tomorrow if not." She switched the light off as she left the room and he listened as she ascended the stairs and opened and closed her bedroom door.

He lay back down on her couch and kicked his shoes off, covering himself with the blanket. He was going to feel shit whether he slept or not, the foul aftertaste of whiskey in his mouth was testament to that. However, he felt his eyes grinding shut and before he knew it he had drifted into a drunken stupor.

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><p>A noise woke him and it took a few minutes for the horrid realisation of where he was to sink in. He was completely sober now and his head had already begun to throb as he glanced at his watch, squinting at it in the dark and estimating that it was around 3 am. He groaned as he realised he had no recollection of how he had got here or even where here was in relation to his own house. He was, quite simply, screwed. One thing he knew for certain was that he was dying for a piss. He heaved himself to his feet and clutched the arm of the sofa for support as his head swam dangerously.<p>

He knew from his last time here that there was no bathroom downstairs; just the kitchen and he really didn't think Elena would appreciate him pissing in her sink. He reluctantly crept into the hallway and glared at the staircase and placed his foot on the first step, breathing a sigh of relief as it didn't creak. _Please don't wake up_, he prayed silently, _please God don't wake up while I'm creeping up your stairs in the middle of the night. _

He reached the top stair and winced as it creaked loudly; he clenched his fists in frustration and waited anxiously to listen for any answering noise. Sighing in relief he paused and looked at the three doors that were in front of him. One was to his left and then the other two were directly in front of him. _One in three chance_, he thought, _not bad odds_ and proceeded forwards, banking on the door to the left. He glanced to the small gap underneath the door and noted that there was no light coming from underneath it, although why would there be at 3 am? He was sure that her roommate was not home, what was her name? Bessie or something like that, he had seen them together at the hospital a few times. He inhaled slowly, his hand gripping the doorknob tightly before he slowly opened it.

He peered inside cautiously and saw an empty bedroom and sighed, this was the roommate's bedroom. He smiled amusedly at the large collage of photos that was on the wall directly next to him, he glanced at one and smirked, Elena was sat on the beach in a bikini, her head thrown back and her back arched in a dramatic, provocative pose. The laugh that was clearly erupting from her mouth eased his conscience slightly as he realised he hadn't discovered the remnants of some sort of candid porno shoot. _Focus Salvatore_, his bladder now felt like it was going to explode and he quietly closed the door and stood in front of the remaining two. This was like something off some kind of awful game show he decided as he stepped forward and went for the door to the right, his logic being that the girls would most likely have rooms directly next to each other.

He inched the door open and poked his head around, silently cursing as his eyes fell open the sleeping form of his intern. He immediately tried to step backwards and thought he might actually die when an almighty loud creak echoed in complaint as his foot stepped backwards.

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><p>He froze and considered his options as he saw her begin to stir. Bail and hope that she doesn't realise it was you, weirdly spying on her in her sleep or stay and try to explain that you accidentally picked the wrong door and ended up weirdly spying on her in her sleep.<p>

"Damon?" She groaned, pushed herself up onto her elbows and squinting, her eyes to trying to focus on the figure stood in her doorway. _Too late_. He opened his mouth but found that words had seemed to completely escape him suddenly, now he was just a weird guy, standing watching her sleep with his mouth open.

"I..." He choked out, "Shit." He exclaimed, swearing apparently the only means he currently had at expressing himself.

She moved her covers further up and tucked them under her arms before flicking on the light at the bedside table. "What are you doing?" She asked and he noted that she didn't even try to hide the accusation behind her words. He bit back a smile as her face was finally brought into illumination; her hair was tied up but sticking out haphazardly and one side of her face was red from where she had lain on it. His smile dropped however as he noticed that her eyes were slightly bloodshot and her cheeks looked stained as if she had recently been crying. "I..." He struggled to untie his tongue, "I was just looking for the bathroom, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to wake you." He suddenly jumbled out, silently thanking the powers that be for granting him the use of his vocal chords again; now if they could just grant him a time machine then all would be OK. His eyes flicked to her bedside table where the book he had found earlier was sat in front of a large photo of a middle aged couple; from the resemblance he took them to be her parents.

"Oh." She said, snapping his gaze back to her. She shuffled herself awkwardly out of bed, frantically wiping her cheeks with the back of her hands as she stood up. She blushed as she looked down at her skimpy pyjamas and pointed to a door on the other side of her room. "It's just through here." She directed and opened the door. He nodded gratefully and stepped in, closing the door behind him.

When he came back out she was sat on the edge of her, she had clearly wiped her face and had attempted to tame her hair slightly and he offered her an awkward smile. "Thanks..." He began, "and again, sorry." She shrugged it off and glanced down at her feet, waiting for him to leave. "If you uh...point me in the right direction I can probably walk home now." He offered, shoving his hands into his pockets and rocking backwards and forth on the balls of his feet. She looked up at him and he cursed himself as he lost his balance, stumbling to the side slightly before returning to his centre of gravity. She smirked and shook her head, "I really don't think that's a good idea, you still look pretty hammered." He had to agree with her, he had looked at himself in her bathroom mirror and thought he looked like death. "You can stay here 'til the morning, its fine." She continued and he wondered what he ever did to deserve her kindness. She sniffed slightly and he found his eyes drawn to her face.

"Are you-" He paused, not wanting to offend her again, "Are you alright? It's just I heard a noise...downstairs and you looked..." He sighed as she frowned at him, probably ready to scream at him again, "You looked like you had been crying." He finished hurriedly, cringing slightly as he prepared himself for the outburst. When it didn't come he looked back to her to see her eyes welling up again and he felt his heart rate increase with panic. _Please, please, please do not cry. _He had no idea how to deal with crying women. "Um..." He choked nervously, wondering whether he should just leave her alone.

"Sorry." She said, her voice cracking desperately and he felt his heart melt; he couldn't leave now even he wanted to. He took a step towards her and when she didn't flinch he came to sit next to her on the bed. She sniffed again and turned her face away from him, wiping her eyes frantically. "God I am so stupid." She cried out.

"No, no, hey it's OK." He attempted his most soothing voice as she let out a quiet sob that wrenched at his heart. He didn't even know what _it_ was but if he could just get her to stop crying and then get the hell out of here things would be a lot better. He raised a hand and awkwardly placed it on her shoulder, moving his thumb back and forth in what he presumed might be a comforting gesture.

She sniffed again loudly, her face still firmly pointed away from him. "It's just been a pretty shitty week and-"

"I know-" He tried to sound like he understood.

"No, it's not about the thing with that guy." She said, as if ashamed that something like that would bother her, she turned to face him and he had to blink to stop himself from crying at the sight of her, she looked so broken. In hindsight, he would much prefer it if she were yelling at him right now. "It was today." She offered, she flicked her hand in the direction of her bedside table and his eyes focussed once again on the book and the photo.

He let out a sigh and removed his hand from her shoulder and chided himself for thinking that someone as strong as her would be weeping in bed over some sleazy guy, as she'd put it. He struggled for words but was saved from saying anything as she threw herself into his arms, sobbing into his shoulder. He inhaled sharply and tensed underneath her as she wrapped her arms around his back. His arms were stuck out to the side, as if paralysed and he slowly placed them, one above the other, on her back. She sobbed heavily for at least a minute before he heard her muffled words, "I'm so sorry...I just..." She sobbed again, "I really needed...and Stefan was busy and Bonnie and Matt were working and I didn't want to burden Caroline and...and..." She broke down again and he instinctively felt himself hold her a little tighter, relaxing in her embrace. He sighed as he began to rub his hands up and down on her back; despite being surrounded by so many people she was just as lonely as he was.

She cried for another minute or two and he held her in silence, she slowly quietened down and raised her head to look up at him. Their faces were mere millimetres apart and he struggled against the urge to put more space between them. She sniffed again and glanced down at the wet patch that she had left on his blue shirt. She raised a hand and rubbed at it lightly, "Sorry." She said quietly, her voice sounding strangely nasally and just as heartbroken.

He smiled and shook his head lightly, "It's fine." He said and reached a hand upwards and wiped a single tear that had rolled out of the corner of her with the pad of his thumb. She had lowered her eyes but now raised them to fully meet his. She was beautiful; the force of it struck him a freight train. How had he not seen it before? Then he realised that it had been there all along, the quiet longing when he'd seen her in the changing rooms, her calm grief when she had been sat at her friends bedside and even the fury in her eyes when she had been yelling at him. She was the single most stunning thing he had ever seen in his life.

His eyes momentarily flickered down to her lips that were parted and red from the salty tears that had fallen onto them. She followed his gaze and a pink glow tinged her cheeks, his heart rate accelerated dangerously and he was about to lean forwards when she cleared her throat quietly. He immediately shuffled himself backwards, extracting himself from her arms and jumped to his feet. "I should..." He jerked his thumb in the direction of her open door and she nodded silently. He closed her door quietly, offering an awkward smile as he left the room before trudging back down the stairs. What the _actual fuck_ was wrong with him?

* * *

><p>In the back of his mind he heard a door slam, he groaned as his head pounded brutally, so help him he would murder Stefan and why was he in his room anyway? He cautiously opened one eye and took in his surroundings, he certainly wasn't in his room, he wasn't even in a bed. He was on the floor.<p>

"What the hell!" Someone screamed and he winced as it pierced through his head. He raised his eyes and looked at the pair of feet that were stood in front of his face, well that wasn't Stefan. He looked up further and moaned; Bessie, Beatie...B...B...Bonnie! "Elena!" She screamed, still hovering over him. Then it all came painfully screaming back to him; the Grill, him being physically dragged here by a 120 pound girl and the scene in her bedroom. He glanced to his side and saw the blanket he had been sleeping under draped half onto the floor. He began to push himself up, his body screaming at him to just remain on the floor and let death take its hold, as he heard someone come thundering down the stairs. Elena skidded into the room, still clad in her pyjama shorts and a vest top and took in the scene in front of her. Damon stood unsteadily and waited for the lights in front of his eyes to subside. "Erm..." Choked Elena, hesitantly glancing back and forth between her friend and Damon.

"What the hell is going on here?" Asked Bonnie and Damon winced again, wishing that should would quit being so shrill. "What is _he_ doing here?"

"I'm standing right here you know-" He mumbled but was silenced by both women glaring at him darkly.

"I can explain." Said Elena, clearly panicked.

"Well you better do it quickly because Matt is gunna be here any second." Bonnie replied, glaring at Damon as the whole group realised there was no love lost between the two men.

"Wait- what?" Elena asked, "Why is Matt coming here?"

"For breakfast," Bonnie explained, shrugging and regarding her friend closely, she looked like she had barely slept, "We wanted to make sure you were...you know...OK." She gave Elena a knowing look and her friend smiled in gratitude, knowing that they hadn't forgotten either.

She sighed, "I'll ring Stefan," she said, turning to Damon.

"No." He said firmly, "Whatever you do, do not ring Stefan." She frowned at him and opened her mouth to object but he stopped her, "I don't know about you but I don't think Stefan would take too kindly to me staying here." He explained and Bonnie raised her eyebrows at Elena who knew that she would have a lot of explaining to do later. Elena groaned exasperatedly and swung back to face Bonnie.

"You're gunna have to give me your keys then." Bonnie opened her mouth, "Come on Bonnie, I don't have my car and I'll be back in less than 30 minutes."

"Fine!" Ground out her friend begrudgingly handing over her keys. Elena dashed upstairs to put some clothes on and yelled back down the stairs to her friend.

"Stall Matt for me!" She begged, she knew her friend would not be happy about her going out of her way to help their attending.

* * *

><p>Five minutes later they were in Bonnie's car on the way back to the boarding house, Elena turned the radio up to drown out the awkward silence and started to hum along to a familiar song. However Damon immediately leaned forward and turned it back down, clutching his head as he did so. He wound down the window and relished the fresh air against his face; he hadn't been this hungover since college at least. He glanced across at Elena as she was focussed on the road, his eyes softened as he thought back to earlier that morning, he wanted to ask her if she was OK but at the same time thought that it was wise to follow her lead in not mentioning the incident altogether.<p>

She pulled up just round the corner from the house, as instructed. He undid his seatbelt and turned in his seat, "Thanks, for...all of this." He said awkwardly, "I really appreciate it." He added, she remained facing the front, her hands gripped on the steering wheel. She turned her head and smiled,

"It's fine. I'd do it for anyone." She answered and he nodded, it hurt more than he'd like to admit. He climbed out of the car, flung his jacket over his shoulder and raised a hand to say goodbye before traipsing back towards the house.

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><p><em>I hope you enjoyed it and that maybe you can spot the progressions in the 'what is wrong with me's?' Let me know if you did xxxxx p.s. Pleaseee review, it makes me super happy when I'm supposed to be doing work. <em>


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N- Thank you once again for all your wonderful reviews on the last chapter, I'm happy that you appreciated the small step in the right direction for Damon and Elena :) I just thought I should quickly preface this chapter with a small explanation. I am aware that doctor's do not get this amount of time off in real life, but for the sake of the story I wanted to show them both in and out of the hospital and if it was truly realistic they'd probably just be asleep all the time they weren't working. Anywho, I hope you enjoy this quite lengthy chapter! _

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><p>Damon shut the front door quietly and eyed the stairs gratefully; with any luck he'd fall asleep and wake up Monday morning, signing this whole weekend as a write off. "Well someone clearly didn't sleep here last night." The smug voice of his brother cried out after him as his foot hit the first step. He groaned and threw his head back in frustration; could the universe not grant him one break once in a while? He turned around to see Stefan getting up from one of the sofas and approaching him, seriously, did the boy not have any work to do, ever? Stefan raised his eyebrows expectantly, eyeing the clothes that he had left for work in the previous day.<p>

"It's a long story." He ground out, attempting to trudge up the stairs once more.

"I got time." Said Stefan, quietly goading him. His brother shrugged and watched gleefully as Damon sighed and turned around again.

"Golly Stefan," He gasped, raising the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically and putting on a high pitched southern accent "I spent the night with a lady friend and gosh darn it if it wasn't the most magical night of my life." His face dropped and he smirked at Stefan, his voice returning to its usual pitch. "Got drunk, passed out and got a cab home. Happy?" He snapped shortly, daring his brother to continue as he finally made his way up to his room and closed the door.

* * *

><p>Elena pulled into the drive just as Matt was about to knock on her front door. He curiously peered around and gave her a confused expression as she climbed out of the car. "Hey, where have you been?" He asked lightly as she got her keys out to let him in.<p>

"Erm...I just had to run an errand." She answered before letting them both in. They were greeted by the welcoming smell of pancakes and both drifted into the kitchen. Bonnie silently raised an eyebrow at Elena who subtly shook her head to signal they would discuss it later.

"Alright," Said Bonnie, flipping a last pancake onto the already huge stack, "Plate up guys."

They ate almost silently, all three too tired to focus on doing more than one thing at once. Elena finished first, not having much of an appetite after the night she'd had.

"So how are the night shifts going?" She asked the pair as they continued to shovel pancakes into their mouths. Matt mumbled something with a full mouth and nodded enthusiastically. Bonnie finished her mouthful and nodded also. "Yeah it's good, I'm just so tired and my body just can't adjust."

"Yeah," agreed Matt, finally finishing his breakfast, "I feel absolutely beat all the time." Elena smiled at the thought that they were both clearly exhausted but had come round regardless just to see if she was OK following the anniversary of her parent's death. She coughed and rubbed at her eyes slightly as she felt tears begin to prick behind her eyes.

The trio talked for at least an hour, welcoming the chance to catch up in their busy schedules. Although they skirted around addressing the subject directly every now and then Elena would catch one of them looking at her closely, as if she was about to implode. Matt eventually gave into his exhaustion and left, Elena walked him to the door as he began to look slightly bleary eyed. "Thanks for coming by Matt, I really appreciate it." She lightly hugged him and smiled into his chest as he held her for a little longer than usual before raising a tired hand to wave goodbye. Elena closed the door quietly behind him and sighed, the judgement coming from the kitchen was palpable and she made her back into the room to find Bonnie still sat at the kitchen table. She raised her eyebrows at Elena as she entered and plonked herself down in front of her best friend.

"Go on." Said Elena, eyeing her friend's pursed lips and knowing she was on the verge of an outburst.

"Ok." Said Bonnie quickly, barely waiting for Elena to speak. "Far be it from me to judge..."

"But you will anyway." Mumbled Elena.

"But..." continued Bonnie, ignoring her, "I just find it a little weird that your attending and possibly more importantly, your boyfriend's _brother_ slept here last night. What is going on, does Stefan know he was here?"

"Honestly Bonnie, it wasn't as bad as it looked..."

"It did look pretty bad-" Interjected Bonnie.

"It's not like he slept in my bed or anything," Elena said sharply, feeling like a child being lectured, "He was really drunk, OK? I was just helping him out and no, Stefan doesn't know I was completely fine with telling him, I have nothing to hide but then Damon..." She trailed off, why didn't Damon want Stefan to know? Stefan wasn't the jealous type, he would have understood and it wasn't even like he had anything to be suspicious about, she and Damon weren't even really friends. _So what was that in your room?_ The thought ran through her head as she remembered the way he had looked at her when she'd been crying, genuine concern, she'd only seen it in him once before and it was more disconcerting than his usual offensive behaviour.

"Then Damon, what Elena?" Bonnie snapped her out of her reverie and she shrugged.

"He said not to tell him, I don't know why I agreed to it...I'd just woken up I didn't really feel like arguing over it." She explained. "I'm sure he'll tell Stefan when he gets home." She said, trying to assure herself more than anything.

"Alright," Said Bonnie, pushing herself to her feet and putting her plate into the already full sink, "I just thought you hated the guy that's all. Anyway, I am off to bed and since you gave me such a shock this morning, you can do the dishes." She smirked and threw a dish towel at Elena playfully who laughed and shook her head as her friend went upstairs.

Later that day, while Bonnie was still sleeping she rang Stefan. He picked up quickly and she smiled at the sound of his voice. "Hey." He answered.

"Hi, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Nothing much," he sounded slightly distracted.

"Well, can I come over?"

"Uh...yeah actually come over." She frowned, there was definitely something wrong with him, "There's something I need to talk to you about." _Oh God_, she began to panic, _had Damon told him? Why would he say he needed to talk, that usually only meant one thing. _Her stomach dropped and she quietly confirmed that she would be there soon. She looked at herself in the nearest mirror, she looked like hell, she had no make-up on, her hair was a mess and she was wearing sweat pants. _No point in looking pretty for a dumping_, she thought bitterly, before grabbing Bonnie's keys and scribbling an explanatory note and heading out. The entire drive over to Stefan's she tried to quell the nervous, guilty feeling inside of her. She had nothing to feel guilty about, she had done absolutely nothing wrong, she was overreacting. She pulled into his drive and begrudgingly walked up his drive and rang the doorbell.

* * *

><p>He answered the door and smiled slightly at her, giving her a small hug as she stood on the threshold. He stood back and held her at arm's length, studying her closely. "You OK?" He asked, "You don't look so good." She snorted and nodded lightly.<p>

"I'm fine...uh...what did you want to talk about?" _Better get it over with._

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and gestured towards the living room, "Why don't we go sit down?" She sighed and followed him through, taking a seat opposite him. He leaned forwards to rest his elbows on his knees, regarding her carefully.

"I don't really know how to say this," he began, "so I'm just gunna go ahead and come out with it." She felt her heart accelerate and her palms felt sweaty. "I got a job offer." Her eyes snapped up to meet his and she frowned.

"W-what?" She asked unsteadily, "Stefan that's...that's brilliant!" She cried and raised herself out of her seat to hug him. He stood up too and just as she was about hug him he stepped back.

"It's in New York." He said suddenly and her arms dropped to her sides, suddenly feeling like lead weights.

"What?" She stammered.

"The job, it's in New York, Elena." She struggled to comprehend his words as the nervous, gut wrenching feeling returned with a vengeance. She felt like she might throw up.

"The job...is in New York?" She repeated hesitantly. He nodded carefully, reaching for her and stroking her arm comfortingly. "How long?" She whispered, her head hung down as she gazed at the floor. He frowned and opened his mouth to ask her what she meant but she shrugged herself out of his grasp. "How long have you known about the job?" She asked, her voice more determined now as she finally looked at him, at least he had the decency to look guilty.

"I..." He stuttered, "I had the interview about two weeks ago now..."

"Two weeks?" She shouted in outrage and he flinched.

Damon groaned in his sleep as he became aware of raised voices. He woke from his slumber and rolled onto his back and frowned, had a war broken out in his house without him knowing? He continued to listen as he recognised the all too familiar screeching of his brother's girlfriend.

"How can you have known about this and not told me?" She screamed and Damon felt sorry on his brother's behalf, he knew what a verbal beating from Elena felt like.

"I was going to tell you," His brother's voice floated through the floorboards, decidedly quieter and calmer than Elena's. "But you're never around-"

"Don't you _dare_ make this about me!" Damon shook his head, smirking, _bad move Stefan_. He sat up and relished the clear feeling in his head now, he glanced at his clock and realised it was late afternoon. He threw a t-shirt and some sweatpants on as the fight raged on downstairs, he heard something being thrown and decided he better go downstairs before his house descended into an actual war zone.

"So what?" Elena's voice got increasingly louder as he approached the stairs, "If you didn't see me you were just gunna take off without telling me?" She bawled. _Take off_? Thought Damon, _where was Stefan supposed to be taking off to? _

"No of course not," Stefan said, trying to sound as calm as possible, "All I meant was that I haven't seen you much and when I have it just hasn't been the right moment." Elena scoffed and turned away from him, thinking that if she had to look at his face again she might just launch another paper weight at his head.

"Could you two maybe cool it with the lover's tiff? Some of us are nursing hangovers." Elena swirled round quickly as her eyes snapped onto Damon standing on the stairs. He was leaning against the banister casually and she wondered how long he had been there for.

Damon met her gaze steadily, the sight of tears in her eyes made him want to immediately punch his brother for whatever he had done but he struggled to maintain an air of nonchalance as he took in the scene in front of him.

"Does he know?" Asked Elena suddenly, rounding on Stefan again and pointing at Damon, "Did you know about this?" She turned to look at Damon and he frowned, looking at Stefan.

"Know about what, Stefan?" He asked, descending the last few steps to stand firmly between the pair.

Elena scoffed, "Oh this is just too much." She said sarcastically and Damon had never heard her sound so cold, "You couldn't even tell your own brother," she spat out, "You really are a coward." She swiped her bag off the floor from where she had placed it and practically ran towards the door.

"Elena!" Cried Stefan desperately; she swung around once more, her hand on the door.

"Forget it, Stefan." She raised her hand to stop him from coming any closer, "You have an _amazing _time in New York and just forget it, forget me, forget us, forget _everything._" She threw the door open and let it slam loudly behind her. Damon leaned over and watched her storm across their drive and throw herself into Bonnie's car from the window, screeching away in the blink of an eye.

Stefan meekly re-entered the room and ran a hand through his already messy hair. Damon raised an eyebrow in question, "New York"? He asked and Stefan sighed heavily and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah." He said quietly, "I got a job with a firm up there...starts Monday." He added.

Damon laughed under his breath, "Thanks for telling me." He said, returning his gaze to out of the window.

"Look, I don't need this from you as well..." Began Stefan frustrated enough already.

"No, no, I get it." Said Damon "Go fly the nest. Leave me in this godforsaken town all by myself." He added grudgingly. He heard Stefan leave the room and sighed, he couldn't blame his brother for taking a position in New York. They had both been itching to leave this town since they were kids and Stefan had finally managed it, he just couldn't reconcile himself with the way he had treated Elena. Her voice and the look in her eyes, he had seen a side to her that he had never seen in her before. She was so fiery yet cold at the same time; the poor girl has lost enough he thought.

* * *

><p>On Monday morning Elena showed no signs of her break up with Stefan. Damon had driven his brother to the airport the previous evening, Stefan having no need for a car in New York so he had left his in Damon's keeping. The entire ride over he had been phoning Elena incessantly, however each time the phone was immediately sent to voicemail after a single ring. He didn't know what to tell his brother, he had screwed up, he knew that already so Damon sufficed with a good luck as he watched his brother hand his passport over at the gate and walk out of sight.<p>

Elena threw herself into work; she answered every single question with an unwavering certainty and was consistently the first to finish all her duties for the day before completing whatever extra tasks she could get her hands on. By Thursday Damon was beginning to think that if she continued on in the same fashion she'd be curing cancer before the month was out. Another fact he seemed to find slightly odd was that the rest of his interns, although not working as diligently as her, were putting in hellishly long hours that week; most nights they left after him. At one point he walked into an office as three of them, minus Elena, were huddled around in a group, whispering conspiratorially. He had ushered them away with a frown as they went back to their work. Something was definitely going on, he decided. They were not only working longer and harder but they were all desperately trying to suck up to him as if it was their first week all over again. By Thursday afternoon he had had enough. "Alright," He snapped as Tyler ran over to him as soon as he had raised his head looking for some assistance, closely followed by the other two blonde idiots, Elena was nowhere to be seen. "Does somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on here?" he asked, raising his eyebrows and looking at the trio in front of him, waiting for an answer. They all looked suitably guilty before Caroline opened her trap, seemingly egged on by the others encouraging stares.

"Well, actually we did want to ask you something." She began uncertainly. "We all put in some extras hours this week, you see and um..."

"Oh just spit it out Barbie." He snapped.

"Well we were wondering if we could use it as lieu time and you know, have this weekend off?" She finished throwing him a smile that he supposed might convince most men.

"Dr Fell is covering this weekend; you'd have to clear it with her." He said matter-of-factly.

"We did," Matt piped up, "She said as long as you said it was fine then they'd be OK without us."

Damon narrowed his eyes at the three of them stood in front of him, all trying to look as innocent as possible. He didn't have the patience to listen to their whining so he flicked his wrist, "Fine, whatever." He said shortly and Caroline squealed quietly. The trio soon took off, talking in whispered tones once more.

Friday came around quickly and the other three finished their day early, much to his annoyance since he had granted them the weekend off. As he was leaving the hospital he heard a voice in front of him and recognised Elena walking out of the hospital a few paces in front of him. She was on the phone to someone and he heard her giggle, the sound causing a ripple to go through his entire body. "Yeah, I just finished Jer, I'm headed out right now."

_Jer, who was Jer? _From the clear sound of elation in her voice and the laughs that kept coming from her she was very happy to be speaking this person. "Ok, I'll see you soon, bye." She finished the phone call just as she reached the hospital doors, he was about to call after her but stopped when he saw her run towards a man sat on a bench outside the hospital. He froze as he saw her throw herself into his arms, laughing loudly as he picked her up and span her around. The guy looked to be about her age, maybe a little younger but not by much. He was probably attractive, Damon supposed, he had slightly long brown hair that he'd flicked across to the side like some kind of Justin Bieber wannabe and stood a good head above Elena. He resisted the urge to walk over there as he heard them chatting animatedly and watched as they strolled away together, her arm linked through his. _Well she certainly moved on fast_, he thought bitterly, _too bad it just wasn't with you. _

Saturday morning he was needed at the hospital for a few hours, he was exhausted, all night his thoughts and, when he'd eventually succumbed to sleep, his dreams had been filled with pictures of Elena. She had been laughing on the arm of pretty much every guy he'd ever met, their faces blurring together maliciously. He drifted through work at the hospital, completely checked out of what was going on, all he could think of was getting home and subsequently getting drunk.

He bumped into Alaric as he was on his way out, "Hey Damon." He said, looking slightly less flustered than when he had last seen him. "You alright?" He took in Damon's bedraggled appearance with concern.

"Yeah, yeah." Answered Damon dismissively, "Just this place, grinding me down." Alaric nodded, he knew how that felt. They had arrived at the car park and Alaric stood by Damon's bike and tossed his keys up into the air repeatedly.

"So I guess I'll see you at the Grill tonight?" He asked Damon. He shrugged, he hadn't intended upon going, one drunken night there was enough within a fortnight he thought.

"Yeah...maybe." He said and Alaric shot him a worried look as if he had said something wrong or out of place before he composed himself. Damon frowned, had they put something in the water this week to make everyone act so weird? He dismissed it and climbed onto his bike, waving goodbye to Alaric as he went.

* * *

><p>Elena looked at herself uncertainly in the mirror and twisted her lips. "I don't see why I have to dress up to go to the Grill." She said, throwing a look over her shoulder to where Bonnie, Caroline and Jeremy were all perched on her bed, Jeremy showing little interest in what was going on.<p>

"Well..." Said Caroline chirpily, "It's your birthday; you should always dress up for your birthday." Bonnie nodded eagerly but kept her mouth closed; she had been suspiciously quiet all day.

"You guys didn't do anything, did you?" She asked, suddenly suspicious, turning around to face the three of them with her hands on her hips. They all looked vaguely confused, Bonnie simply shook her head and Jeremy shrugged, returning his interest to a game on his phone.

"Like what?" Asked Caroline innocently; Elena frowned at her friends, there was definitely something fishy going on here but she didn't see how they could have planned anything without her knowing about it, Mystic Falls was such a small town it was impossible to keep anything secret.

"Nothing...never mind." Elena trailed off, turning back to the mirror. Her hair was up in a ballerina bun and she was wearing a dark purple, sleeveless silk shift dress that fell to her mid thigh, the others were similarly dressed but she was still suspicious that she would look ridiculous walking into the Grill dressed like this. She tugged at the dress uncertainly.

"Look," Said Bonnie, finally speaking, "We can go to the Grill and if it's a flop we can just go for drinks somewhere else, deal?" She asked, Caroline turned to her and grinned and Elena begrudgingly accepted, God knows what people would think of them when they all traipsed into the Grill dressed up to the nines.

She glanced across to her brother, dressed smartly in a shirt and jeans; she smiled at the sight of him, so grown up now. She was impossibly happy to see him after the whole debacle with Stefan, seeing her family instantly made her happier. "Jer you still haven't told me about college." She pressed; his eyes had been glued to his phone screen ever since the girls had started discussing what they were wearing. He looked up and smirked at her, hurriedly putting his phone away as he finished tapping on it quickly.

"I will, 'Lena. Later, OK?" He said, offering her a smile.

She nodded, "Ok." She glanced down at her watch and her eyes widened, "We should probably go, I told Matt we'd meet him and Tyler there at eight." She said and grabbed her purse from her bed while the other three jumped up.

* * *

><p>Damon pulled onto the Grill car park at around five to eight, it looked unusually busy and he had to settle for parking Stefan's car on the road. He would probably be taking a cab home anyway and it would be fine where it was. He walked towards the doors and noticed that all the lights were off, <em>what the hell; <em>he thought and glanced back at the full car park. _If it's closed why are there so many cars here?_ He shrugged and tried the door, surprised to feel it swing open.

"SURPRISE!" He took a step backwards as about a hundred people jumped out and the lights were flicked on, somewhere a party popper went off and he looked around him in panic, entirely confused.

"Shit." Said someone and he looked around to see his two male interns stood in the middle of the room with ridiculous party hats on, holding a huge banner that read 'Happy Birthday Elena!' He groaned, everything suddenly becoming vividly clear.

"Erm...sorry." He said, raising his hands in apology. The crowd grumbled and he considered turning around and walking straight out of the bar, he saw Alaric standing in the corner with an auburn haired woman, he frantically beckoned at him and Damon glanced over his shoulder and crept through the sea of incredibly disappointed and annoyed people.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked Alaric, "You couldn't have told me this was happening!" He hissed, still aware of most people's eyes upon him.

"Well I thought you knew," Began Alaric, "Then earlier you didn't seem like you did and I..." He trailed off awkwardly, looking at his feet.

"You what?" Pressed Damon irritably.

"I didn't think you were invited." Garbled Alaric, looking intensely guilty.

"Apparently I wasn't." Mumbled Damon, looking back over to his shoulder where Matt and Tyler were still stood, looking panicked. Matt's phone rang and he quickly answered it before placing it back in his pocket.

"OK guys, it's _actually_ them this time." He shouted over the crowd and threw Damon one more withering stare before someone flicked the lights off again and everyone crouched down.

"Are we_ really_ doing this?" Whispered Damon hysterically, looking across at Alaric, he sighed as he realised his friend and the woman with him were already crouched on the floor and he exhaled before ducking down himself.

* * *

><p>Caroline hopped out of the cab and flipped her phone shut. "Matt says him and Tyler are inside." She said as she tottered on her heels and waited for Bonnie, Jeremy and Elena to all climb out. Jeremy paid the driver, despite Elena's protests. "We didn't even need to get a cab." She whined.<p>

"Elena," Said Bonnie shortly, "I can barely walk ten yards in these heels there's no way I was walking." Elena laughed and took her friends arm; she glanced around the car park and raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Wow, the Grill's busy tonight." She observed as Caroline and Jeremy walked in front of her. She frowned again as they reached the door and noticed the lack of lighting, Caroline and Jeremy both stepped to the side and beckoned her to go in ahead of him. "After you." Said Jeremy mischievously, holding the door open for her.

Elena was momentarily blinded by the flashes of about a hundred cameras going off and the shouts of 'Surprise!' that rang out as she stepped through the door. Her eyes finally focussed on Matt and Tyler stood holding a giant banner, both of them grinning elatedly at her. "Did you do this?" She asked, rounding on Bonnie and Caroline who grinned.

"We all did." Said Jeremy, stepping forwards and throwing an arm around his sister's shoulders. "Happy birthday, Elena." He said quietly into her ear and she smiled up at him, squeezing him tightly with the arm she had wrapped around his waist.

Damon couldn't help but smile at the sight of Elena when she walked in. She had thrown her hands to her face in shock and was laughing and smiling widely, looking completely delighted. His smile dropped however when he watched the guy from the day before place his arm around her shoulder and whisper something in her ear; he had to turn away as he watched her smile and hold onto him tightly. He turned back to face Alaric and his mysterious companion, looking at his friend expectantly.

"Oh, sorry!" Said Alaric, suddenly realising his faux pas, "Damon this Jenna, Jenna this is Damon." Jenna shook his outstretched hand and flashed him a smile, she was definitely pretty and he threw Alaric a look, trying to figure out the relationship between the two.

"So how do you know Elena?" Asked Jenna smiling at him.

"Uh...we work together." He said, not entirely sure why the question made him feel so awkward. He opened his mouth to ask her the same question however she stopped him by placing a hand on his arm.

"Sorry, I just have to quickly grab my niece before she gets swept away." She disappeared through the crowd and he turned around to see her throw her arms around Elena who squealed at the sight of the slightly older woman. He smirked and turned back around to Alaric once more.

"Niece?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh...yeah...Jenna is my..." He struggled to articulate the words, "girlfriend...I guess." He finished and Damon raised his eyebrows, he hadn't been expecting that. Alaric had never mentioned a girlfriend before and certainly not one that was so closely related to Elena.

"And Elena's aunt." He said, though the age difference between the two was very slight the two were clearly extremely close as he looked back over to see them chatting animatedly and laughing.

Jenna quickly appeared back next to them and sighed, "God I forgot what it was like being around single Elena again," she said taking a gulp of her drink, "it's like feeding time at the zoo over there."

Damon turned around and saw that Elena was surrounded by about six guys, Matt included, all appearing to vie for her attention in their own ways. He smirked and shook his head, the poor girl just didn't know how to say no, she was trying to speak to them all as they tried to cut across each other and focus her attention on themselves.

"Elena!" Cried Bonnie as she lunged through the crowd of men, weaving between them in a way that suggested she was used to saving her friend from such situations. "Come dance!" She dragged on her friend's arm and removed her from the disappointed looking group of men. Elena laughed as she was dragged onto the dance floor with Bonnie and Caroline and Damon smiled as they squealed delightedly at the choice of song that had started playing. It was a slightly slower song and the girls settled for loudly singing the words to each other as opposed to dancing with any real conviction.

_I have been searching for your touch_

_Unlike any touch I've ever known_

_And I'd never thought about you much_

_'Til I'm broken down and all alone__  
><em>_Though I don't understand the meaning of love_

_I do not mind if I die trying_

_Took you for granted when you lifted me up_

Damon smirked and kept his eyes on the trio as he headed to get a drink. He ordered his usual and accepted it gratefully and watched as the girls were joined by Matt and Tyler and the mystery guy. He flung his arm around Elena's shoulders again and she grinned up at him, her face full of elation as they both sang the song in unison, their arms swaying in time to the music.

_I can feel it in my guts _

_What's going on with him now?_

_Don't patronize me with lies_

_I'm a man be a woman now_

He saw Alaric making his way towards him and raised his glass to him as his friend frowned at him and then glanced over to where his line of sight had previously been directed. "You ever wonder how they can remember every single word to pretty much every song in the chart but can't tell you how many bones there are in the body?" He asked Damon sarcastically as he ordered a drink for himself. The pair stood and watched as Jenna joined the group, placing herself between Elena and the unnamed guy, Damon liked the woman already. Alaric cleared his throat awkwardly and drew Damon's attention back to him. Alaric inhaled deeply and regarded Damon closely, "You're not…." He stammered and Damon frowned, he looked genuinely uncomfortable about something.

"You're not….sleeping with her are you?" He asked and immediately lowered his eyes to his drink and took a large gulp of it.

"What?" Asked Damon, looking back across to Jenna, if Alaric thought that was flirting he really needed to teach his friend a thing or two. "I just met her today-" He said, trying to sound as rational as possible.

"No, not Jenna you idiot." Alaric said sharply, he pointed with his glass back to the group, "Elena." He said simply and Damon froze.

"What!" He stuttered, his cool composure immediately shattered, "Come on man, she's my brother's ex, my intern…." He sputtered nervously.

"That may be true," Said Alaric, sounding a lot more sensible than his friend, "But that still doesn't answer my question. Are you sleeping with her?" He asked more firmly.

"No, of course not!" Damon spat out, trying to sound as horrified as possible and pretend like the thought hadn't crossed his mind a thousand times. "I think this guy's got that covered." He pointed towards the brown haired guy still dancing closely to her and eyeing any guy who came near her suspiciously.

"Who, Jeremy?" Asked Alaric incredulously, he sniggered and shook his head. "That's her brother moron." He said and watching worriedly as Damon's entire posture and expression seemed to relax, there was definitely something going on here and he was determined to get to the bottom of it. "Why do you care anyway?" He pressed and Damon shrugged, doing his best attempt to look unmoved by his questioning. "Don't do that whole cool guy, nonchalant thing with me Salvatore. I know you." He said, jabbing a finger in his friend's face.

Damon sighed and smirked at Alaric, her brother, how could he have missed that? The guy had been acting like a personal body guard all night and hadn't once tried to make a move on her himself. He turned back to Alaric and clapped his friend on the shoulder, "I'm not sleeping with her, I swear." Alaric's shoulders relaxed slightly, "But _hypothetically_…." He said mischievously and Alaric narrowed his eyes, "….where I would stand with that?"

"In terms of…?" Asked Alaric suspiciously.

"In terms of losing my job." Explained Damon simply and Alaric shook his head.

"You're despicable." He said, happy that he was drinking or this conversation might have taken on a more serious note than he would have liked, Jenna had asked him to look out for Elena and he had tried to do it to the best of his ability.

"Correction," chuckled Damon, "I'm male." He laughed as Alaric shoved him lightly.

"Hypothetically…" began Alaric uncertainly, drawing out the word, Jenna would kill him if she knew he was having this conversation, "The hospital takes a bit of a mixed bag approach. Elijah has a don't ask don't tell policy with….fraternisation; as long as it stays out of the hospital he's happy to turn a blind eye but there have been….incidents, where people have had to jump before they were pushed. If it reaches the board they'd hang you out to dry, you'd be lucky to get a job as a hospital cleaner." He finished bleakly, hoping to knock some sense into Damon.

Damon raised his eyebrows and nodded, "Noted." He said and let his eyes drift back to where Elena was dancing with Matt, his throat suddenly felt tight and he swallowed heavily. Jenna suddenly latched onto her niece's arm and pulled her away from the dance floor towards where the two men were stood. Damon immediately turned his back to them and tried to act like he hadn't been ogling her since she had walked through the door. "Alaric!" Shouted Elena, a little too loudly than was necessary; Damon smirked as he realised she was already pretty tipsy from the sound of her voice. She threw her arms around Alaric's neck and he awkwardly patted her on the back, Damon slowly turned around, secretly hoping he might be next in line for a drunken hug but was disappointed when she simply managed to smile lightly at him, barely acknowledging his presence.

"Happy Birthday Elena." Said Alaric and pulled a card out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her. She smiled gratefully and Damon gulped, he had showed up completely empty handed, through absolutely no fault of his own; he wasn't even supposed to be here. She turned to Damon almost expectantly and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Didn't you get me anything?" She asked, a smile playing at the edges of her mouth as he realised that she was messing with him.

"Au contraire," he shot her a cheeky wink and made a space for her where he was stood at the bar. "I got you the best gift of all," she frowned at him disbelievingly, "Booze." He waved at the bartender who spotted the birthday girl and headed straight over, she grinned and excitedly drummed her hands on the bar and he had to stop himself from laughing at how cute she was when drunk.

"What can I get you?" Asked the barman, looking at Damon.

"You got any champagne here?" He asked, glancing across to Elena whose mouth had dropped open. The barman nodded and went out to the back, clearly champagne wasn't something that they sold regularly.

"I was joking," said Elena quickly, "You don't have to buy me champagne don't be silly." She placed her hand on his arm and what felt like an electric shock ran up his entire arm. She awkwardly withdrew her hand as she realised who she was touching.

Damon shook a finger at her to silence her as the barman returned and handed him the bottle before reaching for glasses. "Cheers," said Damon, raising the bottle to her and turning to pour a glass however she swiped it out of his hand with a giggle and took a long swig from it before letting out a laugh. He shook his head as she ran off back to her friends with the bottle clutched in her hand and rolled his eyes at the barman before paying him.

* * *

><p>He spent the next hour or so talking to Ric and Jenna and pathetically watching Elena's every move from across the room. Jenna disappeared momentarily and came back, accompanied by a pretty blonde who was dressed incredibly professionally. He let his eyes drift over her tight pencil skirt and low cute blouse momentarily as she grinned eagerly at him. "Hi, I'm Andie." She said, her keen, sober voice reminding him how drunk he already was, as were most of the other people at the party.<p>

"Damon." He slurred out and shook her hand, letting her light grasp on his hand linger for a second too long before releasing it and returning his grip to his bottle of beer.

"Andie here is our town's star reporter." Chirped Jenna, leaning over the blonde's shoulder and winking suggestively at Damon.

"Is that so?" He asked, sipping from his bottle and raising his eyebrows. "And what kind of reporter are you Andie?" He drew her name out flirtatiously and he smirked as he saw her blush, _still got it Salvatore._

"I do a bit of everything." She said, suddenly feeling shy under his gaze.

"I bet you do." He smirked again and she blushed further. He drained the last of his beer and glanced back across to the dance floor almost instinctively. Elena was now dancing with her arms round the neck of some guy who looked like he'd never quite got over the jock stereotype, Damon struggled not to roll his eyes at the guy's popped up polo neck collar and blindingly white teeth as he grinned like a Cheshire cat, clearly finding it hard to believe his luck at having such a prize on his arm. Elena quickly glanced across to Jenna and flashed her a nervous grin. Damon's insides churned and he suddenly took Andie's hand in his.

"Would you like to dance, Andie?" He didn't wait for an answer as he dragged her over to the dance floor and positioned them so that Andie's back was to Elena and he had a perfect view of Elena over her shoulder.

"So Jenna tells me you're a doctor..." She rambled nervously as he placed his hands on her waist and she drew closer to him, her hips pressing against him and her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

"Yeah..." He answered distractedly, never once looking at her face.

"So, where did you go to college?" The guy had begun a subtle move south with his hands, letting them rest momentarily on Elena's lower back and Damon clenched his jaw in frustration as he watched her giggle drunkenly and letting her head flop into his chest.

"Erm...John Hopkins." He said dismissively, instinctively tightening his grip on her out of sheer frustration.

"Oh wow..." He was aware of her still speaking in the background, "you must be like, really smart."

"Uh huh..." The song that was playing faded out and something slightly slower suddenly came on. "Would you just excuse me for one second?" He asked and extracted himself from her grasp as she had begun to pull herself closer to her. "I just have to say hi to the birthday girl." He left her standing alone on the dance floor, utterly bewildered. He was by Elena's side in two strides and smiled darkly at the guy as he turned around to look at him. Damon automatically sized him up; he was maybe an inch or two taller than Damon but definitely didn't carry as much muscle bulk as him he noted satisfactorily. "Mind if I cut him?" He said and the guy opened his mouth to protest but he had already taken Elena's hands in his own as they'd dropped from the guys shoulders upon seeing her attending. "Cheers buddy." He slapped the guy on his back patronisingly and sidled in front of him, grabbing Elena's full attention.

She didn't resist him as he placed her hands either side of his neck however she raised an eyebrow at him, "What are you doing?" She asked and he blinked as he smelt the alcohol on her breath, how was this girl still standing?

"What, I'm not allowed to dance?" He raised his eyebrows at her and she shook her head, fighting a smile.

"You _were_ dancing," She continued, drunkenly jerking her head to where Andie was heading back to Jenna looking suitably dejected, "with Jenna's friend."

He shrugged it off, "Well now I'm dancing with you." He said matter of factly and loving how her eyes lit up when she smiled slightly before placing a slight pout across her lips. "What?" He asked light-heartedly. "Did I upset your Ken doll?" He glanced over to the bar where her previous dance partner was stood glowering at them.

"Shut up." She said, too drunk to muster any serious anger, "He was like, the most popular guy at school." She slurred heavily.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, laughing slightly, "And what's he do now?" He narrowed his eyes slightly and held eye contact with her, delighted when she blushed slightly.

She mumbled something under her breath and he raised a hand to cup his ear, "Sorry? Didn't quite catch that."

"He works at the car wash." She said quietly and he scoffed loudly, earning him a smack on the shoulder.

"Wow." He said sarcastically and she found herself mesmerised by the way his lips formed the word. She stared into his blue eyes for a second too long before dropping her gaze to his chest, his muscles visible underneath his form fitting deep blue shirt, _bad idea Elena, focus on his shoulders, no one can have sexy shoulders, _she gripped her hands tighter and groaned inwardly as she struggled not to appreciate how broad and strong he felt underneath her hands.

Her thoughts were fortunately interrupted by the screeching sound of feedback from a microphone; she redrew her hands from around him and pressed her hands to her ears before it died out. "Hi everyone," She looked up and saw Bonnie standing near the bar clutching a microphone, "how about we get the birthday girl up here?" She asked and the crowd clapped and cheered, Matt shouted 'speech' loudly and was joined by everyone else, chanting. She groaned and covered her face nervously before she was pushed and jostled to the front of the crowd. Bonnie thrust the microphone into her hand and she coughed before raising it to her lips.

"Erm...hi." She began nervously.

"We can't see you!" Shouted Jeremy from the back of the room and she squealed as Matt lifted her up from her waist and placed her onto the bar. She stood to her feet now teetering nervously above everyone else, a few people whistled and she giggled lightly. "So...erm...thanks for coming," she stuttered, "Thank you so much to my wonderful friends for doing this for me, you have all put a huge amount of pressure on me for when your birthday's come around" She laughed and looked down at Bonnie and smiled before glancing across to Caroline who had her arms around Tyler's neck and then at Matt. "I am so grateful to all of you, my family," Jeremy whooped loudly and Jenna smacked him on the arm, "and my friends, both old and new..." Her eyes darted quickly to Damon and he felt this heart constrict slightly as she flashed a quick smile, "...and if I keep talking I'm gunna cry because I'm really drunk so, please have a great time, I love you all!" She rambled quickly and hopped down off the bar.

Damon didn't manage to see anymore of her for the rest of the night, she was too distracted by the damn Forbes girl declaring that every song was 'their song' and therefore they _had_ to dance to it. He did notice, however, that she diligently avoided the life size Ken doll for the evening and he smirked at the thought that she might actually care what he thought. The party started to wind down at around three and Damon walked outside with Ric and Jenna, he waved an awkward goodbye to Andie as she got in a taxi before phoning one for himself. He returned to the boarding house and somehow managed to stagger up the stairs; he flopped down onto his bed and passed out fully clothed, smiling at the last image that flashed through his mind before he surrendered to sleep.

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><p>Please pleaseee review :) xxxxx<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N- Sorry for the slight delay with this, I have been super busy with uni work and exams but they're finished now which gives me a bit more time. Thank you for all your wonderful reviews about the last chapter, it was a lot of fun to write. I would like to apologise for the grammatical errors that I let slip through, especially Damon asking if he could 'cut him'. He hasn't turned into a psychopath I promise! I have spent all day in bed hungover today so I've been able to finish this chapter and get a good start on chapter 9. Enjoyyyyy xxx_

* * *

><p>Damon was stirred from his sleep the next morning by the shrill ringing of his phone; he bent his neck slightly and looked down at his still fully clothed self. His head throbbed in complaint as he sat up and grabbed his phone off his nightstand, not caring to look to see who it was. "What?" he snapped, barely recognising his own voice it sounded so croaky.<p>

"Not a morning person. Noted." a chirpy female voice rang down the line and Damon racked his brain to try to identify it.

He drew a blank and sighed "Who is this?" he asked exasperatedly, already annoyed at this energetic woman's gall at ringing him at such an ungodly hour.

"It's Andie," she answered sounding suddenly less assertive, "Jenna gave me your number and I thought hey we live in an equal society and everything now so why should I hang around for you to call-"

Damon groaned, his mouth positioned away from the receiver as he banged his head lightly against his headboard, immediately regretting it as it seemed to instantaneously set off a second pulse in his head. Fifth stage hangover, it certainly beat how he'd felt the previous weekend, this town was slowly edging him off the cliff of social drinking and into the pit of alcoholism. He was vaguely aware that Andie was still jabbering away down the phone and he had not really listened to a single word she was spouting.

"-so I said to myself, just call him Andie, he's cute and not a complete asshole..." Damon snorted.

"Wow, thanks." he said sarcastically, she groaned regretfully and he pictured her pretty face blushing and smirked.

"So..." her voice had returned to it's previously chipper tone, "what are you doing today?" her eager question hung awkwardly in the air as he struggled to think of a suitable and believable activity. Did people fish in Mystic Falls; did he make a convincing fisherman?

"Uh...I'm going f-" he stopped as a picture of Elena flashed before his eyes, her arms around his neck and a mesmerising smile plastered across her face, dammit he needed a distraction, "...nowhere, I'm going nowhere." her audible sigh was flattering he told himself, it was flattering to be pursued.

"Phew!" she said dramatically, "I thought you were gunna say fishing for a second there, no one fishes around here, unless you count the old folks at the residential home but they have to put them all back...it's weird." _Wow_, he thought, _well at least there won't be any awkward silences; she barely left any room for actual conversation. _"So..." he was snapped back to the matter at hand, "what do you wanna do?"

His head throbbed again and he was reminded that he was still in last night's clothes and smelt like a brewery. "Well Andie..." he drew out the last vowel of her name again and heard her giggle, "I don't really think I'm gunna be in a fit state to go anywhere today but you're more than welcome to come around to my place, I can think of a _load_ of things we can do." he listened again for the giggle and rolled his eyes, this was too easy but a distraction nonetheless.

* * *

><p>Elena thumped down the stairs loudly on Sunday morning, she was still wearing her pyjamas and her hair was tied into a messy bun. As she entered the kitchen she groaned loudly as the sound of loud rock music came screaming out of the radio on the side, "Jeremy!" she whined and hit the off button with a thud before collapsing into a chair at the kitchen table. Jeremy laughed his spoon full of cereal halfway to his mouth.<p>

"Good morning to you too." he said chirpily and quickly scooted back over to the radio and flicked it back on. Elena groaned again and put her head in her hands.

"Remind me again why I said you could stay here?" she mumbled into her fingers, her head pounding against her temples.

"Erm, cause I cleaned your pig sty of a kitchen from top to bottom this morning, because I got you an aspirin ready for your joyful arrival and because I've avoided mentioning that you look like actual hell." he said chirpily and swung backwards as she swiped a hand at him and knocked his spoon out of his hand. He laughed merrily and flicked some milk in her direction before snatching the bowl away from her grasp before it ended up on his head.

"How long are you sticking around for anyway?" she asked as she sipped on a much needed glass of water and gulped down the tablet.

"Probably til after next weekend or something." he shrugged, his classes were sporadic and most of his time was for independent study.

"Ooh great!" said Elena enthusiastically, her head snapping up.

"See, that's more of the response I'd like." he said, grinning.

"Yeah, we'll see how much you like it in a sec," she explained, "I need you to be my escort to this hospital benefit next weekend, it's a founder's thing. Stefan was obviously gunna do it but-" she flapped her hands dejectedly and huffed. "He turned out to be an epic letdown. So now you get the honour! Yay!" she said sarcastically clapping her hands together. She frowned as Jeremy suddenly looked sheepish and guilty. "What?" she asked.

"No can-do I'm afraid," he said and she gave him a pained look.

"Come on Jeremy, I hate these stupid things as much as you but if we go together I'll buy you drinks all night, you know Carol Lockwood will have the bar on lockdown for you and all the other under-agers." she added persuasively.

"I would take you, really I would but...I already told Bonnie I'd escort her. I operate on a first come first serve basis, sorry." Elena groaned and dropped her head down onto the table again, now she had a week to find an escort to this damn thing or have to suffer the evening alone and worse, Mrs Lockwood's badly disguised mockery when she would announce her escort-less.

"_And now Elena Gilbert escorted by...oh I'm sorry Elena...Elena is representing the Gilbert family by herself tonight." _Elena could picture her withering smile now with disdain, looking at the cards she held as if it was a huge shock to her that once again Elena had failed to convince a boy to escort her.

"Whatever," she shrugged, "you suck." She pushed herself onto her feet, her head feeling significantly better as the tablet started to take effect.

"What are you doing today?" asked Jeremy from the sink. Elena groaned and remembered the thing she had promised herself she would do today.

"The drop off." she explained and Jeremy sharply inhaled dramatically, she lightly smacked him on the arm before heading back upstairs to get dressed and mentally prepare herself for the task at hand.

* * *

><p>Damon sauntered to his front door as the sound of the bell echoed throughout the house. He had just got out of the shower and had decided not to be subtle about his intentions with Andie, choosing to just wear a pair of low slung sweatpants and nothing else. <em>If you've got it, flaunt it,<em> he thought playfully. He swung the door open, "Well you certainly got here very quickly, eager are we?" he asked before letting his face drop as the person stood in front of him gasped.

Elena quickly turned around, her cheeks flushing furiously and her hands almost slipping on the box she was carrying in her hands. "Shit!" he cursed and frowned at the girl now stood facing away from him in his doorway. "Elena? What are you doing here?" she slowly turned around, her eyes trying to focus on anywhere but his bare chest. His hair was slightly dampened and fell across his face while his torso still had a wet sheen to it; she suddenly found it incredibly hard to breathe.

"Erm..." she choked out, blushing again. "I...uh..." she glanced down at the box in her hands and he leaned over to peek inside. "I was dropping off some of Stefan's stuff but erm...I can come back later." She went to turn around but slipped on a patch of frost on his step and dropped the box out of her hands, its contents spilling across the floor. She swore under her breath and immediately bent down to recover the things spread across his front door step.

He sighed and bent down also, glancing up at her quickly and noting the pained look in her eyes, she was hiding it well but he could tell that she was still hurting a lot more than she let on. He glanced down at the shirt he'd picked up, it was one he'd regularly seen Stefan wear and he couldn't help the mental image that flashed before his eyes of her in it, and not much else. He silently folded it and handed it to her as she shovelled the rest of the stuff back into the box. She smiled gratefully and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "You know," he said, standing back up as she raised herself up as well, "Stefan probably won't be back anytime soon, you could just keep this stuff." he suggested, eyeing the shirt, _and take a few shirts of mine too if you want, _he added mentally.

"No," she answered, shaking her head and suddenly overwhelming him with the scent of her hair as it swayed slightly. "I need to just...get rid of it, you know?" she glanced past him and he stepped to the side, ushering her in and closing the door.

"So..." he began awkwardly, she placed the box down on a table and looked around the hallway, the same way she always did. "Did you have a good time last night?" he asked and couldn't help smiling as a grin spread across her face.

"Yeah, I did." she said and absentmindedly ran her fingers across a small statue that sat on a shelf she'd never noticed before. "It was amazing." she glanced back at him and noticed that he had found a shirt from somewhere and pulled it on, clearly sensing her earlier discomfort. He regarded her closely, his arms folded as he watched her polish the dust off a long forgotten trophy. "What's this?" she asked suddenly, her voice sounding acutely curious. She had picked the trophy up and was looking at it closely, she turned to look at him and he shrugged.

"No idea." he stepped forward and looked at the trophy more closely before smirking as he finally recognised it. "Huh..." he exclaimed softly, "I never knew he kept this" he said quietly as he lightly took the trophy out of her hands and turned it around. "Damon Salvatore." he read off the worn plaque, "Conference Champion." he smiled again and looked up at her as she raised an eyebrow in question. "It's from high school, my football team won the championship and I sent it to my Dad, thought it might make him a little bit proud of me."

She frowned, a smirk playing across her lips, "Shouldn't that be in a high school cabinet somewhere?" she asked and he smiled proudly.

"The captain gets his own trophy." he stated, waving the trophy back and forth victoriously. He stopped as she scoffed derisively.

"So you were captain of the football team?" she asked and his stomach churned as he suddenly realised where this conversation was going. "After all that shit you gave me about being head cheerleader, _you _were the captain of the football team?"

"It was a long time ago..." he said hesitantly and she shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"You're such a hypocrite." she stated and he was relieved to see that she was smiling, a small laugh escaping her lips. He shrugged and nodded, guessing that she was probably right. He placed the trophy down on the table, next to the box of Stefan's things and couldn't help but peering in to see what else she had of his. He frowned as something caught his eye and he had fished it from the box before he realised.

"Where did you get this?" he asked softly and she turned to see him holding a silver necklace in his hands.

"Stefan gave it to me" she answered uncertainly, suddenly feeling like she had done something wrong. He was staring at the necklace intently, the chain looped through his fingers and she swallowed nervously.

"It was my mother's." he explained so quietly that she only just heard it. She blushed furiously as she began to feel slightly sick with guilty.

"I'm so sorry-" she began awkwardly, "I didn't know-" His head snapped up and she gulped as she saw him blink away tears, he frowned as he saw her pained expression.

"No, no" he said reassuringly, "I wasn't...I didn't...its fine," he finally managed to stutter, "I just haven't seen it in a long time that's all." She nodded meekly, her hair falling across her face as she tried to hide her embarrassment.

"Well," she said quietly, "you have it back now." She went to leave but was stopped by him calling her name.

"You should keep it." he said and held it out towards her. She shook her head frantically as he took a step towards her.

"No, I can't." she stated simply and dropped her eyes as he met hers intensely.

He was now standing directly in front of her and she furiously tried to stop herself from blushing and calm her heart rate down. "Look," he said calmly, dipping his head to meet her lowered gaze, "I don't know what Stefan's reasons were for giving this to you, that's his call. But," he placed a finger under her chin and raised her face up to look into his eyes, "I would much rather see it around your neck than sat on a shelf collecting dust...and I think my mother would have too, OK?" She nodded silently, her eyes never once leaving his. She swallowed heavily as they stood there for a second or two simply staring at each other and she was once again struck with the feeling that he was about to kiss her. She almost jumped out of her skin as the sound of his doorbell rang loudly through the room and she immediately took a step backwards away from him. He closed his eyes for a second and inhaled slowly, collecting his thoughts before he reached for her hand and placed the necklace into her palm, closing her fingers around it and holding onto her for a second longer than was necessary. "I should get that." He said as the doorbell rang again and he headed for the door.

"Your house is seriously like, amazing!" Elena heard the chirpy voice and frowned as she struggled to place it. "Oh, hey Elena" She turned around and was faced with the sight of Andie, wearing a tight pencil skirt and a sheer blouse regardless of the freezing weather outside.

"Erm...hey...Andie." She said sheepishly, tucking her hair behind her ear and frowning slightly at Damon who was stood behind Andie looking positively guilty. "So...erm," she patted her hands on her legs and smiled, "I'll just leave Stefan's stuff here," she said obviously and pointed at the box of things, "and get out of your hair, thanks again." She nodded and strolled past him and headed immediately out of the door, not wanting to acknowledge the jealous feeling gnawing away at her insides.

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><p>The next morning Damon rolled over with a groan as the sound of his alarm rudely shook him from his sleep. However, instead of being met with the cool and refreshing side of his large bed his arm collided with the soft skin of a naked female body. He exhaled as the figure moaned and shuffled slightly before returning back to her deep sleep; he extricated himself from the bed, untangling his limbs from hers and rubbed his eyes. He was exhausted, he normally wasn't one for sleepovers but Andie was so damn persistent that he'd felt like he was asking for a divorce when he had politely suggested that she go home just a few hours previously. He ran a hand over his jaw and noted the thin layer of stubble that had grown there in the days since he had last shaved, he glanced across at his clock and realised he would not have time to pay much attention to his appearance that morning, having already hit the snooze button several times. He begrudgingly dragged himself into the shower and emerged feeling slightly more alert but still managed to put hand soap onto his toothbrush instead of toothpaste.<p>

He eventually arrived at the hospital several minutes later than usual, as he rounded the corner into the ward he saw his four interns gathered and waiting, not one of them daring to mutter a word about his lateness, apart from Elena who almost imperceptibly raised an eyebrow as he straightened the collar on his white coat that he had hurriedly dragged on. "Alright, gather round." he snapped, not in the mood for their fumbling today. "As you all probably know you have your appraisals tomorrow with the chief so try not to annoy me today, yes Donovan?"

He sighed as Matt raised his hand hesitantly. "Erm..." he stuttered, glancing at the others nervously. "Our appraisals are today." He muttered and the other three nodded slowly.

He frowned, "No...your appraisals are..." he rubbed his forehead wearily and blinked his stinging eyes, "What day is it today?" he snapped, as if it was their fault that he had spent all night being mauled by the town's star reporter.

"It's Monday." said Elena quietly, she noticed the circles under his eyes and the dark shadow of stubble around his chin that made him look even more like a model. _Things must have gone well with Andie_, she thought whilst jamming the niggling feeling in her stomach out of her mind.

"Right, yeah, whatever." he said shortly, flicking his hand as if he had known all along, "Your appraisals are _today, _which means that you get to sit in a comfy chair for over an hour and talk about how you're feeling while I am left horrendously understaffed out here. So please, for the love of God, try not to kill anyone today, OK?" he pleaded sarcastically and quickly dismissed them. Elena threw him one more lasting glance before hurrying away and he sighed, running a shaky hand through his hair. He needed coffee, desperately. He glanced around and saw that the ward looked relatively quiet, most of the interns seemed to be doing notes or taking bloods so he slipped away quietly and headed for the hospital canteen.

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><p>He tried not to snatch the steaming cup of coffee from the hands of the girl who had made it. He saw her smile at him lingeringly and quickly glance down to the cup that he was now holding. Scribbled in thick black pen was written '<em>Have a nice day, Rose.' <em>he smirked and flashed her a quick smile before turning around and almost colliding with his chief of medicine.

"Oh sorry Damon, I didn't see you there son." Elijah clapped a hand on his shoulder and laughed jovially, at what Damon wasn't quite sure. "You look worn out kiddo," he continued warmly and Damon found he couldn't find the irritation within him to feel annoyed at his pet names, "I hope this place isn't working you too hard."

Damon shook his head and smiled, "No sir." he replied.

"Please," the older man's booming voice echoed through the empty corridor that they'd just stepped into, "call me Elijah. Did you get all your feedback to my secretary?" he asked and Damon nodded.

"Yeah I sent it over last week." he answered, he had spent hours trying to find the words to describe one particular intern, not thinking the chief would appreciate a description of how nice her figure looked in her scrubs or how much he loved it when she would look at him with those beautiful eyes. He coughed; trying to clear his thoughts, today would be enough of a struggle without letting his thoughts about Elena distract him further.

"Good, good," mused Elijah, "I'm looking forwards to hearing what you have to say about them all, you've got some good young talent there," he continued, "the Gilbert girl especially, I hear very good things about her." he added and Damon sipped his coffee to mask his expression.

They continued to walk down the corridor and Damon paused as they reached the door to his ward, "Oh," said Elijah, suddenly remembering something else, "you'll be representing us this weekend, I hope?" he asked and Damon frowned, signalling his confusion, "At the founder's event for the hospital," he explained, "it will be nice to have a Salvatore there after so many years, your Dad was never really one for those kind of things but it'd be great to see you there, son. Elena Gilbert will be there too so we'll have two returning founding families!" He clapped Damon on the shoulder and he found himself nodding his acquiescence before he could even think about it.

"Sure." he said quickly.

"And don't forget to bring a date, although I'm sure that's one area you won't need any help with." He winked and Damon nodded thoughtfully before re-entering the ward again.

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><p>The chaos that met him as he stepped onto the ward made him want to turn around and walk out again. A nurse hurried past him, dragging a large red crash cart and he frowned and watched her pull it into one of the side rooms. He tossed his cup of coffee into a nearby bin and quickly jogged towards the room and stopped in the doorway, unable to get in any further as the room was filled with about seven nurses, all clambering around and shouting at each other. At each side of the bed he spotted two of his interns, Matt and Elena. One of the older nurses, a woman with a sharp tongue who usually took charge of the interns shouted something in Matt's direction and he shook his head frantically, glancing around him as if someone would magically appear and relieve him from the situation. His eyes snapped back to Elena as she quickly said something to the nurse who pulled open a draw on the crash cart and passed her a bagging valve mask; he watched the situation unfold like he was watching it through frosted glass, Elena shoved the mask onto the patient's mask and began to squeeze the large balloon. Finally, Damon recognised who it was as he noted the lifeless form of what he'd probably consider to be his favourite patient, if he had favourites. The elderly woman, Mrs Doherty, had been on the ward for some time and was about to be discharged when she had contracted a urinary tract infection and had steadily been decreasing over the last few days. The recognition of who was currently being ventilated by his young intern snapped him out his daze and he managed to push his way to the front, appearing next to Matt who was still floundering.<p>

"Move." he snapped and practically shoved Matt out of the way. He looked up at Elena, who was now trying to squeeze the balloon evenly, her eyes full of panic. She moved her hands as if to offer the bag to him and he shook his head swiftly. "You stay where you are." he said shortly and she nodded and looked down at Mrs Doherty. "What happened?" he snapped, the shouting had calmed slightly now as he had entered the room and he inwardly screamed at himself for being such an idiot to leave the ward, if this woman died it would be his fault.

"She went into septic shock and she stopped breathing." Elena spewed out nervously, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps.

He nodded, trying to get a handle on the situation. He reached behind him and tugged a pair of gloves off the box mounted on the wall and snapped his fingers at the nurse stood closest to the crash cart. "You," he snapped, "Get me 10 micrograms of noradrenaline." he ordered and she seemed to hesitate.

"Dr Salvatore, she's been like this for over five minutes..." she mumbled nervously.

"Just get me it dammit!" He shouted and she jumped, hurriedly pulling open a drawer and rummaging through its contents.

He quickly unscrewed the canula fitted to her arm and held his hand out impatiently, snatching the syringe off the nurse and inserting it into the woman's canula. He glanced up at the monitor that had been emitting a high pitched, continuous note and counted the seconds as he watched the line remain horizontal as it ran across the screen. He cursed under his breath and looked up at Elena whose eyes seemed to be full of tears. "Damon..." she said quietly, her voice sounded pleading but he ignored her.

"Get the defib." he said steadily to a nurse and she bit her lip and glanced across to Elena.

"Damon..." Elena's voice cut through him again and he looked at her and she shook her head gently. She had stopped compressing the bag between her hands and had placed her hand on the woman's pale arm.

"No." Elena was the only one to hear the whispered words escape his lips and she held his gaze.

"Let her go." she said quietly and he shook his head once as she leaned over and switched off the bleeping monitor next to the bed and placed the mask down at her side.

He felt rage boil up inside him, anger at himself, at his own incompetence; he pushed his way out of the room, tearing the rubber gloves off his hands and throwing them viciously into a bin. He stood for a second in the middle of the ward before heading for the doors and pushing them open with both hands. He barrelled out into the corridor and leant his back against the wall before sliding down to sit on the floor, cradling his head in his hands. He heard the doors swing open but didn't move, he knew he should go back inside, it was his job, his responsibility and if he hadn't left the ward in the first place this might not have happened. _Don't kid yourself_; he thought bitterly, _this definitely wouldn't have happened. You can't leave two interns to handle a crash call because you were shagged out from the night before. _

He heard someone sit down beside him and he finally raised his head to see the small frame of Elena next to him, she placed a soothing hand on his arm and regarded him silently. They remained in silence for a few seconds before Elena raised herself to her feet and stood directly in front of her. He raised his head to look up at her through his bleary eyes, now bloodshot from unshed tears. She sighed and offered him a hand and he couldn't help but smirk as he wondered whether she could support his weight, before realising that she already had on a previous occasion.

He took her hand and she helped drag him to his feet, however she didn't step backwards and instead pulled him into a hug, holding him tightly against her. He breathed in the scent of her hair and felt his back burn and tingle from where her small hands gripped him tightly, his heart raced and he cleared his throat awkwardly and pulled away from her, his body screaming in protest at the withdrawal of her warmth. "Thanks..." he mumbled, she nodded her acceptance and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "You uh..." he choked out nervously, "you did good in there." he stated and she smiled slightly at the compliment.

"I better go." she said quietly, "I have my review." she explained and he nodded and watched her as she walked away down the corridor before facing the doors to the ward and heading back in.

* * *

><p>Elena sat in front of the chief, her hands knitted together tightly in her lap. She smiled at Elijah as he rummaged around in a pile of folders before pulling out a thin manila folder and flicking through it, his face broke into a smile and she felt herself relax slightly.<p>

"Well," he began and placed the folder down in front of him and regarded her carefully, "I'm very impressed, Elena." he stated and she had to fight to stop herself from verbally expressing her relief.

"Dr Salvatore is incredibly complimentary of your abilities, he says that you consistently demonstrate high levels of aptitude, skill and flair for medical practice." he quoted, reading Damon's feedback in front of him with raised eyebrows, she couldn't help smirking as she recalled his earlier words, trust him to make her feedback into a joke. "Sounds like you've made quite the impression here, your father would be proud of you." he added and she nodded solemnly, blinking away the tears that suddenly pricked behind her eyes.

"Thank you." she replied quietly and he smiled warmly at her.

"I take it you'll be at the benefit this year?" he asked, "You probably haven't been to one since before you left for college am I right?" he asked, his face lighting up with enthusiasm as he spoke about the event. Elena groaned and sank down in her seat slightly; she had been intending to blow the whole thing off having decided that she couldn't face the whole town and founding family's looks of pity as her and her brother took their parent's place in representing the Gilberts; not to mention that she would probably be attending stag.

"Actually I wasn't-" she started to explain but Elijah cut across her.

"Elena," he said in a voice she was certain he reserved for times when he wanted to get his own way, "I know these events aren't exactly fun," he formed air quotes around the word, "but I know they meant a lot to your family and it would be so lovely to see you there representing them." She groaned like a teenage child being told they couldn't go out and sighed.

"Fine." she spat out, folding her arms and glaring at the chief of medicine, she couldn't exactly say no once he'd brought out the family card.

"Plus, I'm sure there are plenty of young men lining up to be your escort." he added jovially and she snorted and laughed.

"Not exactly." she said and raised herself out of her seat and shook his hand before saying goodbye.

* * *

><p>Later that evening she was in the locker room changing out of her scrubs, Matt was opposite her doing the same and they changed in silence before heading out of the hospital together.<p>

"So, how did your review go?" she asked him and he shrugged, placing his hands into his pockets.

"Alright, I guess," he mumbled, "Dr Salvatore didn't completely annihilate me in his feedback so I guess I must be doing something right. How was yours?" he asked, returning the question.

"Yeah, yeah...good." she answered absentmindedly, "Dr Smith guilt tripped me into attending this hospital benefit thing this weekend." she groaned and Matt chuckled.

"Ah, the benefits of being a founding family member." he mused, "I'm so glad I don't have to go to that shit."

Elena coughed awkwardly and smirked, "Well..." she replied, shooting him a shy smile, "I was actually gunna ask you about that. Do you wanna be my escort?" she garbled quickly and Matt stopped and turned to face her.

"Seriously?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah," she answered nervously, "I know it's not your thing, but it's not mine either and I just figured it would be fun to go with a friend, you know?" she shrugged and offered him a convincing smile. She felt slightly guilty when his face lit up at her request and she desperately hoped he wouldn't read into it too much.

"Yeah...uh...of course I will." he stumbled over his words and she smiled prettily and gave him a small hug before heading home.

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><p>Pleaseee review! xxxxx<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

A/N- _what's that now? Two updates in as many days! I _must_ be avoiding my dissertation haha! Thank you for all your reviews once again, can't believe I'm on 200+ plus now, it honestly means the world to me to have your support. I know I don't always manage to get back to you all but I did want to thank those of you that point out grammatical errors, its something I personally hate and can only apologise for, but please don't hesitate to acknowledge them because it helps improve my writing. Also, just a quick explanation for this chapter. Elena and the others did all grow up around mystic falls but went to different schools so never really knew each other before moving back to work there, with the exception of Bonnie whom she has known since childhood. (Oooh and Elena's dress is the same one she wore to the Miss Mystic pageant)  
><em>

_Ok folks, so I'm gunna let you in on a secret...this chapter's a biggy and prettyyyy dramatic. Enjoy ;) xxxx_

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><p>Damon tapped his foot anxiously on the ground, beating a nervous tattoo on the tarmac as he stood in the long winding drive of the Lockwood mansion, queuing to get into the benefit. Beside him Andie clasped onto his arm, almost as if if she were to let him go he might evaporate into thin air. He wrinkled his nose as another scent of her intense perfume and the can of hairspray that she had clearly emptied into her hair crept into his nostrils. He flicked the sleeve of his black suit back over his wrist and glanced at his watch, noting that a minute had passed since he had last checked the time.<p>

"Calm down baby, what's got you so riled up?" cooed Andie beside him and he suppressed a shudder at the use of the pet name. They had been stood in the queue for approximately five minutes and the woman was already driving him insane. She had rung him four times that day to suggest that he colour co-ordinate with her dress, twice to confirm what time he would be picking her up and the fourth time to ask if Ric and Jenna could have a ride as well. He glared at the back of his friend's head as Jenna whispered something into his ear and he burst out laughing, the pair easily showcasing that they were a perfectly happy, in sync couple.

"Nothing" he ground out, straightening his collar, "I just wish this wasn't taking so long, the sooner I get in there, the sooner I can leave." he said and Ric turned around in front of him, laughing.

"Good luck with that man, you're in for the long haul tonight." he said and slipped a hip flask out of his pocket and waved it in Damon's face before taking a swig and then passing it to his friend. "Always be prepared." he joked, raising his fingers into the cub scout salute as Damon took a lengthy swig of the liquid and winced as it burned down his throat satisfyingly.

Damon raised himself onto the tips of his toes and craned his neck to look over the crowd at what was taking so long. On the steps of the mansion he could spot the Lockwoods taking their sweet time in speaking to every single guest and shaking their hands. "This is ridiculous." he spat out, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking around him. "Isn't there some kind of founding families express line or something?" he asked. His attention was suddenly captured by the sight of Katherine ascending the steps and shaking the hands of the Lockwoods, on the arm of some tall buffoon who looked like he might burst out of his suit any second. The man had an absent grin plastered across his face and Damon laughed slightly, typical Katherine to choose some vapid moron as her escort. She was dressed in all black, wearing a form fitting black cocktail dress that finished mid thigh, emphasising her voluptuous figure. She stuck out like a sore thumb in comparison to most of the women who had worn full length gowns, but that was Katherine, always the centre of attention at whatever cost.

From behind him he heard a group of party goers chatting excitedly, one of them shrieked with laughter and he frowned as he turned around and saw Tyler Lockwood with Caroline Forbes on his arm, giggling drunkenly as she tottered on her heels. Behind them was the other intern, Bonnie and her date who he recognised as Elena's brother. Tyler turned around and yelled behind him, "Matt! Come on, I'll sneak us in round the back." The blonde haired intern came towards the group and Damon felt his stomach seize up and his heart jump as he turned to offer his arm to his date. Elena smiled politely and accepted his arm as they caught up with the rest of the group. She looked simply stunning, her royal blue, floor length dress fit her perfectly and he found his eyes drawn to her chest which had been pushed up by the dress. Her long brown hair fell around her shoulders in curls and he smiled as he noted that she was wearing the necklace he had gifted back to her earlier in the week.

She seemed to be looking in their direction and he heard Andie gasp softly behind him, "Ahh," she exclaimed, "Jenna look at Elena, doesn't she look beautiful?" he had to bite his tongue from agreeing and smiled slightly as she waved over to her aunt and gestured that she would meet her inside. They finally reached the end of the line and he shook the hand of Mr Lockwood who regarded him closely as he introduced himself.

"Ah, so this is the famous Damon Salvatore." he enquired and Damon nodded, already annoyed by the man's pompous tone. He was a member of the hospital board and a huge benefactor to them; he couldn't afford to be an ass to this man.

"It's finally good to put a face to the name. I trust my son is behaving himself under your tutelage?" the man continued, not waiting for Damon's response. "I must say," he said, turning to his wife who had stood by in submissive silence, "I'd heard you were young but...I didn't think you were this young, you hardly look older than Tyler."

"Just my youthful good looks, I'm afraid." quipped Damon, flashing a winning smile at Mrs Lockwood before excusing himself and practically dragging Andie into the party.

"You didn't introduce me" she whined as he tugged on her arm and headed in the direction of the bar.

"I'm sure they know who you are." he mumbled and raised a hand to grab the attention of the bartender.

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><p>An hour later he was still yet to spot Elena again, Ric and Jenna had disappeared to dance and he was stood being talked at by some ancient board member who was going on and on about things Damon couldn't care less about. He allowed his gaze to wander and his eyes finally landed on Elena who was stood on the edge of the dance floor with Matt. She was chewing her lip nervously and visibly winced as her date placed his hand around her waist and gestured towards the dance floor, pulling her into the centre and wrapping his arms around her. Damon narrowed his eyes as he watched her place her small hands around his neck, feeling the phantom sensation around his own neck as he let his mind drift back to her birthday party.<p>

Matt was jabbering nervously as they swayed awkwardly to the music, he had disappeared for around half an hour with Tyler and reappeared smelling of whisky and suddenly wanting her to dance with him. She could feel his hands tightly grasping her lower back and she cried out slightly as he stood on her foot for what was the fifth time in that dance. So far she had had a miserable time, Tyler and Caroline had disappeared into some room inside the mansion to do God knows what and she threw a glance over Matt's shoulder to where her brother and Bonnie were laughing at something he had whispered in her ear. She jumped as Matt cleared his throat, swinging her attention back to her partner. "Erm..." he choked out and she looked up at him to see his face was flushed and droplets of sweat had formed on his forehead. "I uh...I wanted to talk to you about something." he muttered nervously and she felt her heart quicken and her palms go sweaty against his shoulders.

"Right now?" she asked him, glancing around her at the crowds of people on the dance floor.

"Yeah, right now." he confirmed and she nodded silently and bit down on her lower lip. "I'm in love with you, Elena." he professed quickly and she looked up at him, her face pain stricken. Damon was still watching her from across the room, the man's voice buzzing in his ear.

"I mean the most important thing about finding a good golf club is definitely..."

He frowned as he watched Elena shake her head and step back from her date, he said something to her and she raised her hands in an attempt to calm him down, he had raised his voice and snatches of the conversation drifted over to where he was stood.

"...five years...only you..." Elena was stood, looking horrified as people's attention became diverted by the exchange and she called out after him as he suddenly stormed away from her, shoving his way through the crowds angrily.

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><p>Damon worked his way through the crowds of people and forced a smile at someone who clapped an appreciative hand on his back. He finally burst into the cool night air, grateful for the chilly breeze that whipped through his hair. He had been trying to escape Andie and her over eager hands and cloying perfume for the better part of half an hour. He glanced to his left and right, deciding which way would be less populated and began to work his way around the right hand side of the large property. <em>Typical small town folk<em>, he thought as he glanced up at the huge facade of the white building he was walking around, _flashing their wealth even at a charity event._ He reached the corner of the building and glanced towards the sprawling woods that had just revealed themselves, lightly illuminated by the light from the large window overlooking the back of the property and the glow of the moon. He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned back against the wall; he breathed out and smiled at the stream of vapour that flew out in front of his face. A light cough drew his attention to his right and he squinted in the darkness to identify where it had come from. Through the darkness he could make out the slim shape of a woman, her back against the wall, leant forwards with her hands on her knees. She let out a great choking sob and he inhaled sharply as he immediately realised who it was, he'd heard that cry before.

"Elena?" he asked quietly and walked forwards as she came into focus.

She immediately bolted upright and wiped at her eyes furiously, she flung her arms around herself, still simply clad in her thin silk gown, looking absolutely freezing. "What are you doing out here?" he asked gently when she failed to acknowledge his presence and she finally turned to look at him. Her eyes were bloodshot and some of her mascara had run, causing her eyes to look darker than usual. Her skin was alive with goose bumps and she shivered violently.

"I just needed a minute." she answered quietly and he nodded, signalling that he was there for the same reason.

"Everything alright?" he asked, leaning onto the wall next to her.

"Oh yeah," she scoffed sarcastically, "everything is great. My best friend hates me, I'm a terrible person, oh and I'm standing out here in the freezing cold crying like some sixteen year old at prom!" she shivered again and he immediately shrugged out of his jacket, feeling his body scream in protest as the cold hit him.

"Here." he said, placing the jacket around her shoulders and watching her shrug herself into it, wrapping it around her. He would take the cold, he thought. "Might I presume this has something to do with Donovan?" he asked quietly, coming round to stand in front of her and looking down at her sympathetically. She nodded and sniffed, tightening his jacket around her small frame.

"He hates me." she said, sounding utterly lost.

His heart jumped pathetically and he wished that she would throw herself into his arms once more. "I'm sure that's not true." he stated simply and she shook her head, refusing to be comforted by his words.

"God!" she suddenly exclaimed, throwing her hands up in exasperation, "How did everything get so screwed up?" she asked and he stayed silent, thinking it was probably rhetorical. "I shouldn't even be talking about this, least of all to you." she said bitterly, throwing a hand in his direction. He snorted and nodded, she was right; he and Donovan were hardly best friends. "But here I am, on my own while I'm pretty sure my brother is hooking up with my best friend and Tyler and Caroline are off doing God knows what and I'm...I'm...alone."

"Look," he said gently, "I know I give Donovan a hard time but he seems like..." he hesitated as she watched him carefully, "he seems like a nice guy." he finished and this time it was her turn to snort and shake her head.

"Exactly, he is so..." she paused and sighed heavily "...nice." she finished dismissively.

"You don't like nice?" he asked quickly and she laughed and raised her hands hopelessly.

"I don't know what I like." she had turned to face him now, her arms still wrapped tightly around her, emphasising her small frame even through his jacket. "I mean..." she continued uncertainly, "why would anyone want to be with me anyway? I'm a mess..." she paused and buried her head in her hands for a moment before raising her face to look at him, her eyes full of tears again, "no one should be in love with me." she said quietly, her voice breaking slightly as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

That was it, he couldn't take it anymore and he grabbed her forearms before dragging her roughly into his arms, securing her tightly against his chest. He regretted his actions in the seconds that followed as he felt her freeze and tense under his touch but he allowed himself to relax as she seemed to unwind into his embrace. He bunched his hand into her hair and rested his chin on the top of her head as he listened to her quiet sobs die down. "Don't ever think that." he said quietly and pulled back slightly to look down at her. She smiled sadly and nodded, wiping away the last few tears before pulling away from him, he took solace that she hadn't stepped back as far as she had previously been stood, keeping the distance between them small.

"Sorry," she chuckled lightly and shook her head, "whisky makes me a bit melodramatic." he laughed and raised his eyebrows.

"Never pegged you for a whisky drinker." he said and she laughed again and reached down to the floor, next to where she had been stood and retrieved a small hip flask.

"It's all Alaric had." she explained and shook the flask lightly, frowning at its empty contents before tucking it into his jacket pocket. He nodded slightly and offered her a crooked smile. "We're kind of pathetic, you and me, did you know that?" she asked him and he raised his eyebrows, his face looking sarcastically affronted.

"Me?" he asked, placing a hand to his chest, "pathetic?"

She laughed, this time more openly and he couldn't stop himself from smiling, "Yeah," she chuckled, "the only time we're actually nice to each other is when we're weeping about something." He laughed loudly, throwing his head back, sending a stream of vapour into the night air.

"Weeping? I don't weep, Elena," he said, pulling on the collar of his shirt and tensing his chest, "men don't weep." She slapped him lightly on his chest, causing him to buckle slightly, imitating being winded.

"I bet you weep." she countered.

"Oh yeah, and what would I weep about?" he asked, trying his best not to grin at her mischievous face.

"Oh I don't know...how it's _so_ hard being so achingly handsome? How you just can't get women to leave you alone?" she grinned drunkenly, rolling her eyes. He gulped pathetically, his heart immediately quickened. _She had not just said that, she thought he was handsome? Achingly handsome? Breathe Salvatore, calm down!_ His thoughts raced dangerously and his mouth went dry.

He laughed, attempting to mask his sudden difficulties with speech, "I uh...I didn't know you thought so highly of me." Her face dropped slightly and she blushed, her words ringing in her ears and she realised what she had said. "Relax, Elena." he said, noting her sudden discomfort, how was he suddenly the confident one? "I get it, it's hard not to notice these chiselled features." he joked and she laughed again, the awkwardness diffusing quickly.

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><p>"Damon!" he broke his eye contact with her and looked around him, someone from round the front of the house was shouting his name, someone female who sounded a lot like Andie. He groaned and looked around him frantically. "Has anyone seen Damon?" he heard her shout, not able to hear whoever she'd asked respond. Elena laughed quietly, clearly enjoying seeing him so distressed.<p>

"Come on Gilbert," he suddenly turned to her, pleading with her, "you grew up here you've gotta know some kind of secret escape route?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I thought I told you not to call me Gilbert." she folded her arms and fixed him with a serious look. "Why shouldn't I just shout your date over and give you up? What's wrong with Andie anyway?" He groaned again, he could hear voices getting closer.

"Nothing is wrong with Andie," he said frantically, "She's just...she's nice." he said and stared at her pointedly and she moaned slightly, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

"Fine." she ground out, "Come on." she beckoned for him to follow her as she headed towards the woods.

"Seriously," he asked nervously, "the woods? You're not gunna murder me are you?" She laughed and threw a glance at him over her shoulder.

"Only if you never call me Gilbert again," she took in his nervous expression and rolled her eyes, "I know these woods like the back of my hand, come on." She reached a hand out to him and he took it, walking alongside her.

_You are not sixteen years old, _he screamed at himself as his palm instantly became sweaty and his heart thudded against his chest, _for Godsake man up! _

She pulled him into the woods, immediately finding a trodden down path and following it deeper into the woods until they could barely see the lights from the Lockwood mansion behind them. Back at the house Andie reached the back of the house and stared around her breathlessly. There was no sign of Damon, she frowned as she squinted towards the woods before swivelling on her heel and heading back to the party with a huff.

* * *

><p>In the darkness and under the cover of the corner of the house Katherine Pierce smirked as the blonde woman stormed past her. She had stood and watched Damon walking into the woods with his young intern, the pair laughing and she had smirked with delight as she had seen him take her hand. Typical Damon, always a sucker for a pretty face and some brown hair; although this could prove very entertaining for her. She heard a giggle come from the protection of the forest and shook her head wistfully before downing the rest of her champagne and strolling back around to the front of the house.<p>

Damon narrowed his eyes as he looked up at the house through the trees, he watched Andie walk away, a small feeling of guilt settling in before he turned back to face Elena who was leaning against a tree watching him closely. She giggled lightly and he frowned, "What's so funny?" he asked lightly, taking a step towards her.

"Oh nothing," she answered in a sing-song tone. "It's just amusing to see you scared that's all." She laughed again and his heart jumped.

"I wasn't scared." he said, trying once again to look as macho as possible.

She looked down to the foot of the tree that she was leaning against and smiled as she nudged a broken bottle of what looked like vodka with her foot. She laughed under her breath and raised her eyes to see he was staring at her intently. She gulped slightly, what was she doing, in the woods with her attending? She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, "I used to come down here with my friends all the time," she said, trying to alleviate some of the tension that had suddenly appeared between them. "I was uh...quite the wild child before...well before everything happened."

He nodded and placed his hands in his pockets, tensing his body as a cool breeze whipped through the trees and reminded him that he was just clad in a thin shirt. "Sorry," she said suddenly, noticing him shiver, "do you want this back?" she opened his jacket from where she had folded it around her, exposing her low cut dress and he inwardly groaned as his eyes fluttered down to her chest for a second.

"No, its fine you keep it." he said, his voice sounding strained. He stepped towards her and grasped the sides of his jacket and wrapped it back around her, when she didn't pull away he let his hands settle lightly on her hips. He cleared his throat awkwardly as she gazed up at him silently. "What you said earlier..." he began and she frowned lightly. "You're not a mess, Elena." he said seriously, he reached forward and moved a piece of her hair that had fallen across her face. "We're all a bit screwed up inside." he explained simply.

"We?" she asked quietly.

"Everybody." he answered with a shrug, "That doesn't mean we don't deserve to be loved." He offered her a small smile and she smiled back, their faces now inches apart.

"Have you..." she began to say but stopped and shook her head; he looked at her and raised his eyebrows in question.

"Have I what?" he asked, already knowing what it was she was going to ask him.

"Nothing," she said, attempting to wave the question off, "it was stupid." She glanced down awkwardly, her cheeks flushing brilliantly pink. He placed the tip of his index finger under her chin and softly raised her face so she was staring him in the face again.

"Have I ever been in love? Was that what you were going to ask?" She nodded silently and gulped. He exhaled slowly, slowing his heart and trying to keep his voice as steady as possible. "I thought I was once," he admitted slowly and she frowned, he sensed the question on her lips, "some people are very good at making you feel what they want you to feel." he explained and she cocked her head to the side curiously.

"Katherine?" she asked quietly and it was his turn to nod silently in confirmation. "What happened?" the question slipped from her lips before she could stop it, the whisky she had drank releasing her of the propriety to stop her from prying.

He laughed slightly and his face took on a sad expression, she stepped back slightly and leaned her back on the tree again, however she was happy that he didn't loosen his grip on her, his hands remaining placed on her hips. "She screwed me over, to put it simply." he began to explain, running a single hand through his hair before placing it back on her side, "I met her in college, as I'm sure you know. She was..." he sighed heavily and shook his head as he thought back to his first impressions of her, "she was unlike anyone I'd ever met before. Strong and powerful, she could control every single person around her and I was drawn to that, I didn't even think for a second that she was controlling me as well." He paused as he calmed himself once more before continuing, "She even managed to get me to bring her home one holiday, I was never much of a homebody, didn't really like to talk about it all that much. My mum had passed away a year before so I'd had to move in with my Dad, here."

"Damon, stop you don't have to-" Elena interrupted him, placing a hand on his arm.

"Its fine," he explained, "it's all in the past anyway." he shrugged his shoulders and took a deep breath, "Anyway, we get back here and she's like, amazed at my house and by my Dad and everything. You have to realise that Kat was so unenthusiastic about everything, like it was uncool to actually like things so when she starts asking me questions about my family and how did they afford the house I thought it was a bit...odd." Elena nodded, starting to realise where the story might be headed, "Anyway, my Dad loved her, she spent the whole week asking him questions about his company and falling over his every word. We headed back to college and about a month later she tells me she's pregnant." He stopped abruptly and clenched his jaw as Elena gasped softly, raising a hand to her mouth in shock. She had never heard Dr Pierce mention a child, did that mean...?

* * *

><p>"I was in my fourth year," Damon's voice snapped her attention back to the story, "one year away from being a doctor and being able to do things for myself for once, you know? But I wanted to do right by her, I said I'd marry her," his voice broke slightly and Elena placed her hand back on his arm, moving her thumb back and forth comfortingly. "She told me she wasn't going to ruin her life by shacking up with me and said that if I gave her the money she'd take care of it." Elena gasped again, her eyes filling with tears as sympathy coursed through her.<p>

"I had to go to my Dad, he gave me an allowance but I didn't have _that_ kind of money but I knew he did," he paused, "he hasn't looked me in the eye since." He explained, swallowing thickly.

"Did she-?" Elena couldn't help herself from asking. Damon shook his head and shrugged.

"I didn't see her again after that, she just took off. I don't even know if she was really pregnant, the next time I saw her was when she transferred to MFG the year I started working as an attending there. I'd worked my ass off and paid my Dad back every cent but...he's still completely disgusted by me and likes to frequently remind me of that. When I moved back here he upped sticks and moved to New York, the old man couldn't even stand to be in the same state as me."

"Damon..." Elena choked out, not able to find the words to express what she felt in that moment.

"Don't." he said simply, "Please don't pity me," he pleaded and she nodded, "like I said, we're all a bit screwed up inside." He offered her a sad smile and she returned it. "Anyway," he continued, "I guess you were right, I am kinda pathetic." And just like that, with the flip of a switch he was back to himself. He gave her a cocky smile before releasing his grip on her and stepping backwards. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the party, "Best get back...I wouldn't want to disappoint the women of Mystic Falls for much longer."

* * *

><p>She rolled her eyes, trying to disguise her disappointment and the way her heart dropped slightly when he had removed his hands from her sides and put more space between them. She stood, frozen to the spot as he turned around, peering into the darkness to try and decipher the way in which they had come from.<p>

"You wanna tell me how to get out of here-" he turned around just as she grabbed his wrist and roughly pulled her towards him, her back slamming against the tree trunk once more. In one practiced movement she swung her arms around his neck and crashed her lips onto his, running her hands through his hair hurriedly. It took him a second to react to what was going on, and another second to wonder whether he had passed out somewhere and if this was some kind of glorious dream, it wouldn't be the first time he'd dreamt about something of this nature happening with her. Regardless of the semantics he responded quickly, dragging his lips across hers hungrily, relishing in the sweet taste of whiskey that lingered there and the way in which she gripped at the folds of skin on the back of his neck.

He pushed her back slightly, pressing their bodies together and groaned as she slipped her tongue between his lips and touched his tongue with it quickly. She was not pussy footing around that was for sure and he couldn't help but wonder if she had kissed his brother like this. But he found that he already knew the answer, this wasn't Stefan's kind of woman, this was _his_ kind of woman and he matched her pace with equal fervour. He had placed his hands either side of her face, trapping her between his grasp but he let his hand wander now, roaming the silky material of her dress before it rested where he had been dying to touch all evening. He grasped her chest lightly and smirked as she let out a moan whilst he trailed kisses down her neck, allowing himself to swell with confidence at the sight of her chest heaving while she struggled to breathe. "Elena..." he moaned softly and pressed a heavy kiss to her cheek before working his way back to her delicious lips. However, this time she placed her palms on his chest, lightly pushing him back and putting space between them. He looked at her, her lips and swollen and her eyes dark with desire but slowly her expression dropped and her breathing calmed.

"We can't." she said simply, lightly moving him back more and standing up fully, removing her weight from the tree trunk.

"What?" he asked incredulously, still gasping for breath. She had kissed him, had she not?

"I don't wanna lose my job." she answered quietly, too afraid to meet his eyes so she stared at her feet guiltily.

"Then why did you just kiss me?" he asked, raising his voice in confusion.

"I..." she stuttered and shook her head, running her hands through her hair, "I don't know, I am so sorry." she uttered, finally raising her eyes to meet his, silently pleading for him to forgive her.

"But you..." he raised his fingers to touch his lips, the taste of her still there, "...you flirt with me and you...you kissed me!" he shook his head frantically, feeling like he had just had his heart ripped out.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, "I think it's best if we forget this ever happened." she said quickly and brushed past him, lifting her dress up as she worked her way out of the forest.

"Elena!" he shouted after her and jogged to try and catch her up, aggressively batting away the branches that got in his way. He reached her just as they cleared the forest; the house clear in front of them and a small group of people were stood where they had been stood before. He latched onto her arm and whirled her around to face him, not wanting to shout after her again and draw attention to them. "What the hell just happened?" he asked frantically, catching his breath.

"Damon..." she began, pulling her arm out of his grasp, "please don't." his forehead bunched together in confusion as she shrugged herself out of her jacket, her eyes full of tears, and handed it back to him before calmly walking across the grass and back around the side of the house, back into the party.

* * *

><p><em>Don't hate me! Ha I couldn't just let it all go to plan could I? That'd be boring!<em>

_Let me know what you think, I'm sure some of you will be just a tad frustrated! _

_xxxx_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N- Thank you so much for all your reviews to the last chapter although I did annoy quite a lot of you hehe. I am honoured that my writing gets such a rise out of some of you! Updates may start becoming a bit few and far between over the next few weeks as I have a massive 10'000 word dissertation (thesis) to be writing and trust me although I would love to be writing this instead I have to focus on the effectiveness of exercise interventions on ICU. I can tell you're enthralled haha! _

_A huuuuge thank you goes out to ellisaco for checking this through for me and for all her previous help with my writing. _

_Enjoyyy and please, as always, review!_

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><p>Elena got out of the cab as it came to a stop outside her house. Matt had driven her to the party and she didn't think he would be in the mood to be offering her lifts anytime soon; it also seemed that he had left the party much sooner than her, she just hoped he hadn't drove.<p>

She was relieved to see that the lights were on, signalling that Bonnie and her brother were back home, she collected her heels from the back seat and paid the driver before walking up her drive on her tip toes, the balls of her feet aching from wearing heels all night. She let herself in and called lightly up the stairs, "Hello?"

**S**he heard a faint shuffle and Jeremy appeared at the top of the stairs, from Bonnie's room. She frowned and decided not to comment on it and raised a hand to him in greeting.

He took in her tear stained face, her mascara having settled somewhere on her cheeks and offered her a slight smile before ducking back into Bonnie's room. She heard a muffled conversation and the floorboards creaked as her best friend appeared and worked her way down the stairs.

"Hey." she said simply and pulled Elena into her arms. "I'm so sorry, Elena. I never thought he would react like that." She held her friend as Elena sighed into her arms, all out of tears for one evening. She let Bonnie lead her to couch and they settled there together, sitting on opposite ends but with their limbs curled up together in the middle until it was impossible to see where one began and another ended. She stared at the floor aimlessly, her expression blank and the events of the evening replaying themselves before her eyes.

"Elena?" Bonnie's voice snapped her out of her reverie, she gazed at Elena carefully, she looked so broken it was like all the happiness she had experienced in the last few years had been wiped off the slate in one night. "He'll come around..." she began to offer, almost certain that Matt would never sacrifice his friendship with Elena even with his unrequited love being common knowledge now.

"You know what would make this whole situation better?" asked Bonnie chirpily.

"A lobotomy?" responded Elena, curling in on herself further and hugging her arms around her middle.

"Nooooo..." chimed Bonnie, standing to her feet and entering the kitchen. Elena heard her rummage around in the drawers of their freezer before appearing back in the living room, "ice cream."

She flung herself back down onto the sofa and handed Elena a spoon before digging in herself. The two devoured the ice cream in comfortable silence and Elena had to admit that the small sugar rush had made her feel measurably better.

"I did something stupid." she said suddenly, causing Bonnie to frown and turn to face her, chocolate ice cream smeared across her mouth.

"Like what?" Bonnie mumbled, her mouth full of ice cream.

Elena swivelled herself round on the sofa so her legs were dangling off the edge, she nervously placed her hands on her legs and sighed.

"I kissed Damon." she said, wincing as she heard Bonnie gasp, sending ice cream flying everywhere.

"Damon Salvatore!" sputtered Bonnie, her eyes wide as she stared at Elena.

"Keep your voice down!" hushed Elena dramatically, "And yes, Damon Salvatore."

"Elenaaaa, he's your attending!" whined Bonnie and Elena rolled her eyes.

"Please don't judge me Ok? I know that it was stupid I just really, really don't want to lose my job." she said panicked. What if it got out? She knew Bonnie would never tell but what if someone had seen them together?

"Ok, ok," relented Bonnie, putting the empty ice cream carton on the floor and raising her hands, "this is officially a judgement free zone." Elena rolled her eyes again, knowing how unlikely that was. "I mean..." began Bonnie, grinning. "Was it good?"

Elena coughed in surprise and shook her head at her friend's audacity.

"Doesn't matter." she replied awkwardly and Bonnie smirked, shrugging.

"That means it was."

"Whatever," said Elena dismissively, already wanting to move away from the conversation, "since we're sharing...you want to tell me why my brother is in your room at two in the morning?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as it was Bonnie's turn to choke in surprise.

"Erm..." She smiled lightly at Elena, "you don't mind, do you?" she asked her friend, trying to give her as convincing a smile as possible.

Elena shrugged, "I guess not, but you know he's going back to college tomorrow right?"

Bonnie nodded and shrugged also.

"I know...we're just hanging out." she answered slightly defensively.

"I'm just saying that's all," said Elena, raising her hands, "judgement free zone, remember? Whatever makes you happy." She smiled and laid a hand on her friend's leg. She raised herself to her feet and picked up the empty ice cream. "We should really start going to the gym again." she reminded Bonnie as she licked the last remnants of chocolate off the spoon before heading to the kitchen and chucking the tub in the bin.

* * *

><p>On Monday morning Elena woke up and pulled her covers further up around her chin. She glanced across at her clock on her bedside table, she had approximately two minutes to get up or she would officially be running late. She pushed back some hair from her face and groaned as her stomach churned horribly. She would have to see Matt today and what was possibly worse, she would have to see Damon. The butterflies in her stomach churned again and she rolled onto her side, she sighed and reached for her phone, dialling a number and holding it to her face.<p>

"Hi," she spoke into the receiver, grateful that her morning voice sounded satisfactorily croaky and husky. "This is Elena Gilbert, I'm not gunna make it in today I think I've come down with a bit of stomach bug."

She listened to what the person on the other end was saying before hanging up and throwing herself back down onto her pillows. Avoiding the situation, or situations, would not make them go away, she was well aware of that. However in that moment she could only feel relief at not having to face Damon or Matt that day and in truth she had not slept well the night before and did feel quite ill. She worked her way back under the covers and closed her eyes, quickly feeling sleep taking over her worries.

Damon strolled onto the ward on Monday morning; he scanned the area for his interns and spotted them stood at the nurses' station. His eyes strained as he struggled to spot Elena in the group, he frowned as he reached the trio.

"Where's Dr Gilbert?" he asked immediately, looking straight at Caroline as the one most likely to have the answer. He ignored Matt's red face as soon as he mentioned Elena; he wasn't the only one who had a bone to pick with the young brunette.

"She called in sick today." explained Caroline simply, shrugging her shoulders as if it were no big deal.

_Perfect_, he thought bitterly, she couldn't even face him at work now. He had had the entirety of Sunday to think over what had happened between them and any confusion or hurt he had been feeling had now been replaced by indignation and anger. He had opened up to her, told her things about his past that virtually no one knew and he had thought for one second that she would open up as well. His mind drifted back to the feeling of her lips on his before she pushed him away. He clenched his jaw; she didn't want to lose her job? Well pulling a sicky wasn't exactly the best way to go about it.

He worked through the rest of the day in a daze; he was tired and hadn't slept well all weekend. Every five seconds he would glance at his phone thinking Elena would call and tell him what a colossal idiot he had been or maybe she would appear at his door not wearing very much. These fantasies kept him awake for the duration of Sunday evening until he had convinced himself that if either of those things were to happen he would tell her where to go. _Yeah right, Salvatore, because you're that restrained._ His irritable mood was only increased further by having to watch Donovan mope around the ward all day; he wanted to throw a bucket of water over the fool. Maybe they could male bond over the mutual woman who appeared to have screwed them both over in the space of a single hour.

He left the hospital early, his brain too fried to continue working any longer. As he was leaving he walked past Elena's roommate, jabbering away excitedly on the phone to someone. He frowned and followed her with his eyes, his neck craned around as she walked through the double doors that led to the wards. If she wasn't at home that meant...No, it would stupid, he thought, to even consider driving to her house and confronting her. Maybe she really was ill, maybe she was contagious. He let himself consider it for about two seconds before climbing into his car and heading there as if on auto-pilot.

* * *

><p>Elena sighed and snuggled herself further into her duvet that she had dragged down the stairs and taken up residence in on the couch. She flicked another episode of Gossip Girl on, letting her imagination drift to what life would be like if she lived in New York City, where people ignored each other and just because you lived in the same square mile as someone didn't mean they automatically knew every single detail about your life. All day she had been hampered by texts from Caroline, the first one arriving approximately five minutes after she was supposed to have arrived for work.<p>

'_Where are you?'_ it read and Elena could practically hear her shrill voice.

'_At home. Not coming in today.'_

'_Is this because of Matt?' _ Elena groaned, great, if Caroline knew then the whole hospital probably knew.

'_No. I'm ill'_ she replied tersely, punching the buttons of her phone aggressively.

'_OK. What should I tell Dr Salvatore?'_ Elena groaned loudly, tempted to throw her phone across the room.

'_Tell him I'm ill.' _

Caroline had replied but at this point Elena had switched off her phone, unable to think about what Dr Salvatore would think of her not coming in. He probably thought a lot of things about her given how she had treated him, why not add truant to the list?

There was a knock at the door and she moaned loudly, Bonnie had probably forgotten her keys again. Ever since she had driven her brother to the station yesterday her friend had been three sheets to the wind. She flung back her covers and trudged to the door, shouting through the latch as she unlocked it.

"I am going to staple the next item to you that you forget or lose Bennett." she warned as she swung the door open and gasped.

"Sounds painful." Damon was leaning against her doorpost casually; he smirked and flashed his eyes dangerously at her.

"W-what are you doing here?" she stuttered, glancing down at her pyjamas and blushing.

"Never heard of house calls?" he quipped and pushed his way past her into the house. "Although you don't look very sick if you ask me." he continued and she gulped nervously. She quietly shut the door and turned to face him; he had remained standing in her hallway and was now looking at her so intensely that she could feel goose bumps break out across her skin.

"So..." he began and she looked at him questioningly, what did he want her to say? "What's wrong with you?" he asked quickly, taking a step towards her and placing his cool palm on her forehead.

"I..." she stumbled over her words, her tongue felt like it had swelled to triple its size in her mouth, "I had a migraine." she finally answered and he laughed under his breath.

"Seriously?" he said sarcastically, "five years of medical school and you went with a migraine? At least be a little adventurous, geez." He strolled into her living room and glanced at the rolled up duvet and Gossip Girl box set before throwing himself down onto her couch and placing his arms across the back of the sofa. "I mean," he continued, his voice still dripping with sarcasm, "you could have gone with stress then you could have avoided seeing me for _weeks._"

She was stood, frozen to the spot, in front of him, her hands clutched together in front of her as she searched for what to say. He glanced up at her, his deep blue eyes giving away that he was a lot more affected by all of this than he let on. He seemed to be expecting her to say something and she bit her lip anxiously.

"I...wasn't avoiding you." she tried to explain, but she stumbled over the lie and he shook his head disappointedly.

"Oh no?" he asked, "Then who were you avoiding Elena?" He stood up and took a step towards her, invading her personal space and she tried not to back down. "Donovan?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, "Or are there other guys working at the hospital who you led on as well? Tyler, maybe?"

"Stop!" she shouted suddenly, her face bright red as she stared at her feet, unable to meet his gaze. Her chest heaved up and down heavily as she struggled to breathe; he was still standing over her, his face cruel and angry. "I didn't lead Matt on." she mumbled weakly, knotting her hands together.

"But you led me on." he answered quietly, his voice full of menace.

"I know." she replied, her voice barely a whisper now. She stared down at her hands once more before looking up at him, staring him fully in the eyes. "I'm sorry." she whispered again, trying to convey all her feelings of guilt with the two simple words.

He laughed again, the sound devoid of any actual humour as he shoved his hands into his pockets and started to prowl around her living room. She remained rooted to the spot, ready for another outburst or whatever he would throw at her.

"You know what I can't quite get my head around?" he asked suddenly, his head snapping up to meet her eyes from across the room. He didn't wait for her to respond but continued coldly, "Why did you kiss me anyway?" He held a finger up to silence her as she opened her mouth. "And don't say you were drunk because we both know you weren't _that_ drunk."

"I..." She began to wring her hands together again, her skin turning red underneath her harsh fingers ministrations.

"Was it pity? Or was it to make yourself feel better after screwing Donovan over?" She had never heard him speak like this, never imagined that he would knowingly say such things to her. She blinked back tears, praying that he wouldn't notice her display of weakness.

"No." she answered shortly, "Of course it wasn't."

"Then what, Elena?" She flinched at the outburst as he swung his arm out and turned to face her.

"I can't control myself around you." she confessed quietly, more to herself than him. He frowned at her, his face full of confusion as she folded in on herself, crossing her arms around her abdomen and hugging herself as tears returned to her eyes. "I don't know what it is," she continued, returning her gaze to the floor, thinking that if she could burn a hole into the ground it might just oblige and swallow her up.

"Whether it's screaming at you or kissing you, I don't know how to act around you." The honesty came tumbling out of her lips, the sound waves hitting her parquet flooring along with a few tears. He took a step towards her and her arms seemed to tighten around her middle as she took a step backwards, setting an invisible barrier between the two of them. She raised her head up again and fixed him with a determined stare, "But my job is _everything._" she explained, emphasising the word with her eyes, "It is the one constant in my screwed up life and I am truly sorry for leading you on and I can't take back what I did but what I need now more than anything is a friend, Damon."

He slowly nodded as her words took effect.

She was being honest with him; could he be honest with her? Could he tell her that he had no interest whatsoever in being friends with her unless there was an added 'with benefits' on the end of the definition? He kept his eyes on hers unwaveringly and couldn't help but notice that she was silently pleading with him. He quickly relented as he was loath to admit that not seeing her today and knowing that she was avoiding him had been torture and he didn't want to experience it again.

"Of course." he relented quietly, lifting the side of his mouth slightly to offer her a crooked smile, "I can't help being attracted to you, Elena." he added and she blushed slightly before nodding her head, "but of course we can be friends, I happen to be an _excellent_ friend." He gave her a small smile and she visibly relaxed.

* * *

><p>Two weeks later they were working a night shift together - she had been kept busy by a few crash calls in the ER so hadn't seen him much throughout the night - however as she strolled along the corridor, relishing the quiet few minutes before her pager went off again her relief was interrupted by the shrill bleeping of the small black machine in her pocket.<p>

Elena skidded around the corner as she clutched her pager, glancing down at the number and frowning as she recognised Damon's bleep. She collided hard into someone's chest and she stumbled backwards, a hurried apology forming on her lips.

"I should bleep you more often if you're gunna come running and throw yourself into my arms." quipped Damon as she stood backwards and realised who it was. She brushed herself down and blew a piece of hair out of her face in frustration.

"Do you just position yourself deliberately in the hope that I'll make an idiot out of myself?" she snapped as she placed her hands on her hips, catching her breath.

He shrugged and placed a finger on his lips, tilting his head up to the ceiling in mock contemplation.

"Maybe." he answered with another shrug as he regarded her, bent slightly over in front of him as she gasped for breath. "Geez, you really do need to start hitting the gym again."

She glared at him, "I just ran up seven flights of stairs!" she exclaimed breathlessly and then looked around her, "And there doesn't even seem to be an emergency. What did you even bleep me for?"

He snickered and pulled a chocolate bar from his pocket that he had been saving; he peeled back the wrapper and began to eat it in front of her as she frowned at him darkly.

"Got a pretty nasty wound to see to and I'm tired, figured you might want to stitch it up." He smirked as he saw her eyes widen enthusiastically.

"Seriously?" she asked incredulously, almost bouncing with excitement.

He nodded; taking another bite of chocolate and feeling the sugar rush begin to take effect. "Yep. Come on eager beaver this way." He beckoned for her to follow him and they rounded the corner and stopped outside one of the side rooms. They both glanced through the blinds of the room at the young man lying on the bed, seemingly unconscious. They entered the room and Damon swiped the patient's chart before Elena could get her hands on it.

"Ok..." he dragged out, twisting his lips as he flicked through the chart. "Charles Fell, 28 year old police officer injured in a car chase," he read off the chart, "superficial lacerations to left bicep and deep lacerations to the abdomen." he finished brightly and snapped the chart closed, tossing it across to Elena who caught it deftly.

"Lucky you." he quipped cheekily and she rolled her eyes and smiled.

Elena peeled back the sheets off the young officer, noticing that he did not stir. The wound had been dressed hastily and she gently pulled back the adhesive dressing to peer underneath at the wound. She drew in a sharp intake of breath and shot Damon a quick look.

"Looks nasty." she observed but Damon caught the hint of worry behind her voice.

"You'll do fine." he reassured her. He grabbed two pairs of gloves and threw a pair to her, shoving the other in his white coat's pocket. "You clean it and numb it as best you can and I'm going to go and grab the stuff for the sutures."  
>He left the room and glanced back at her as she began to pull off the whole dressing and admired the calmness in her face.<p>

Elena grabbed some gauze off the side and began to dab at the wound gently. She could see the young officer's chest rising gently; she presumed he had been given something to sedate him slightly.

"You here to patch up my buddy?" A voice behind her broke her concentration and she jumped slightly before whirling around. Stood in the doorway of the small sideway was a man dressed in a police uniform, leaning casually against the doorframe. However, she glanced down at the police hat he was clutching; he was clearly a lot more nervous than he first appeared.

"Uh...yeah." answered Elena, the man smiled and nodded and she couldn't fail to notice that he was extraordinarily handsome. His eyes were dark but had a mischievous glint behind them and his short cropped hair emphasised the angular nature of his attractive face. "Erm, sorry...who are you?" asked Elena, trying to keep the question as polite as possible once she realised that she had allowed a man to barge into a treatment room unhindered.

"Oh, I'm sorry," His smooth voice setting her immediately at ease. "He's my partner." he explained and offered a slight smile, assured that it was all the explanation he needed.

"I see." said Elena, still in two minds over whether he should be there, although the man's dedication to his partner was adorable.

"Is he gunna be OK?" he asked suddenly, his voice wavering nervously. Elena offered him a warm smile and nodded.

"He's gunna be fine, we just have to stitch him up and probably keep him in for observations but he should be right as rain by the morning." He released a shaky sigh of relief and blew out a small laugh.

"Thank God." he said and raised his eyes to the ceiling slightly. "I was driving the car," he explained to Elena and she nodded, "and he's my responsibility you know? I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him." She smiled at his outburst and returned to cleaning the wound quietly.

"Are you a doctor?" he asked suddenly and she turned to face him again to see him looking amused and perplexed.

"Um...yeah I am." she answered, used to peoples surprise at her career.

"Wow." he said quickly, exhaling slowly and shaking his head amusedly, "I wish my doctor looked like you." he admitted and flashed her a cheeky smile. She blushed and chuckled slightly.

He took a step forwards, his eyes avoiding the open wound on his partner's chest, he glanced down at his watch and his eyes widened in surprise. "I have to get back to the station; I've got a boat load of paperwork to fill out and probably a telling off waiting for me." He laughed light heartedly. "But..." he said nervously and pulled a pen out of his top pocket, clicking it nervously. "Why don't I leave you my number and you can call me to tell me how he's doing, or we can do it face to face maybe...over coffee?" He grinned at her enthusiastically, tilting his head as he asked the question.

Elena simply laughed lightly in reply, not quite knowing what to say. She had never been hit on so openly before outside of a bar and aside from admiration for the young officer's confidence she also found it slightly unnerving.

Taking her lack of refusal as encouragement the young officer searched around for something to write on and quickly picked up his partner's notes. He leaned down to begin to write on it.

"You can't write on those!" said Elena quickly, reaching out to try and take the notes from him but he swung them out of her reach and winked at her.

"What are you gunna do, arrest me?" he asked and laughed, the sound coming from deep within his throat. He quickly scribbled his number down and placed the notes back on the bedside table.

"Can I help you, Officer...?" Damon's voice made Elena jump and she blushed guiltily as he looked between the pair, his hands full of medical supplies.

"Smith." answered the tall police officer, "Klaus Smith, I was just leaving." he replied, turning to grin at Elena before heading to walk out the door but stopped as he drew level with Damon. "I'll see you around Doctor..." he raised an eyebrow at her and she swallowed nervously.

"Gilbert," she answered meekly and he nodded, not prying for her first name as he left the room and the two doctors in it.

Damon frowned at Elena, his eyes narrowing as he craned his neck and watched the officer walk out of the ward.

"What was that all about?" he asked, his confusion clearly evident. He placed the suture kit on the foot of the bed and inspected the wound.

"Nothing." she answered shortly, "He was just checking on his partner." **S**he indicated the patient still lying asleep in the bed.

Damon shrugged, still not satisfied. "Why did he say he'd see you around?"

Elena laughed, amused by Damon's prying.

"It's a figure of speech, Damon" she chided and he shrugged again, dismissing it as he pulled his pair of gloves onto his hands.

"Right doctor," he joked, his voice suddenly sounding like a doctor from a fifties sitcom, "let's see what you can do."

He smirked at her and picked up the notes to glance at them again as she bent down and begin to stitch carefully. He knew he didn't need to watch her too carefully, it was something she was more than capable of doing. His eyes focussed on the scribbled number in the top right hand corner of his patient's notes. He frowned and brushed his fingers over the number, the ink was still wet and he looked up at Elena, who had almost finished neatly suturing the wound, in confusion. He watched her finish up, her face screwed in concentration before she turned to him with a grin plastered across her face.

"Ta da!" she exclaimed proudly, raising her hands and cocking her head to the side triumphantly. He didn't bother to look at her work but simply held up the notes, frowning.

"What's this?" he asked, his voice devoid of all humour.

She gulped nervously and pushed a stray piece of hair behind her ear, an idiosyncrasy he'd noticed she did whenever she was nervous. "It's nothing." she answered, unnerved by his sudden seriousness. "That cop left his number..."

"Why?" he demanded.

"So we could let him know how his partner was doing." she explained obviously as if she were speaking to a four year old.

He swivelled on his heel as she finished re-dressing the wound and left the room, she followed him quietly, waiting for him to continue because she knew it was coming.

"He left _you_ his number, you mean?" he scoffed, still clutching the man's notes.

She shrugged defensively, "So what if he did?" she demanded, flicking her chin upwards defiantly.

"This is a legal document, Elena!" he said, raising his voice and shaking the notes in her face. "Next time you want to flirt with cops and get their numbers do it on your own time and don't have it scribbled all over my patient's notes." he snapped, unravelling everything that had gone into their easy friendship in minutes.

"I wasn't flirting with him." she insisted, lowering her voice as two nurses walked past them arguing in the corridor and rolled their eyes at the familiar sight of Dr Salvatore and his intern bickering like an old married couple.

"Yeah well the girlish giggles and blushing say different." She blew out a laugh and shook her head.

"I can't control blushing Damon, it's an involuntary action." she snapped, her cheeks now reddening for a different reason as she breathed angrily. "What does it even matter?" she demanded of him and he shrugged dismissively, backing away from her and lowering his voice dangerously.

"It doesn't matter, Elena." he spat out, "I just thought your job meant _everything _to you that's all." He threw her words back in her face bitterly and marched away from her.

* * *

><p>Over an hour later Elena was yet to see Damon again on her night shift, she dragged her feet down the wide staircase and headed for the canteen, grateful for her short break. As she helped herself to coffee from the machine she glanced around the largely deserted canteen. In a corner there was a nurse, flicking through a book and struggling to keep her eyes open, and on the far side of the room was a couple, the woman weeping into the arms of a man as she recounted whatever sad news she had to tell. Her eyes fell upon Damon, sitting alone staring into a cup of coffee as if it held the answers to all his questions. She slowly worked her way over to him, realising that he was probably asleep with his eyes open since he did not look up once until she slid herself into a seat opposite him and cradled her coffee cup in front of her.<p>

"Hey." she said quietly and he simply flicked his chin in greeting. "Still mad at me?" she pressed, eyeing him carefully.

He shrugged noncommittally and she rolled her eyes, he could really be a child sometimes.

"I could hardly wrestle him to the ground to stop him from doing it, Damon." He laughed slightly.

"I doubt he would have complained." he shot out sarcastically and she sighed, at least he had broken radio silence.

"It's not like I'm even gunna call him." she explained and his eyes shot up to meet hers inquisitively.

"Why not?" he asked, taking a sip from his now cold and stagnant coffee, and eyeing her suspiciously over the rim.

"I don't know," she lied.

She did know, they both knew.

"Holding out for someone more handsome?" he quipped and raised an eyebrow as he relaxed himself back into his chair. She smirked and rolled her eyes. S_omething like that_, she thought.

The moment was broken by the shrill ringing of her phone. She frowned and retrieved it from her pocket, glancing at the time on the screen. Who was calling her at three am? The caller id said number unknown and she about to let it ring out when Damon swiped it out of her hand gleefully.

"Elena's phone." he answered seductively and she reached across the table in an attempt to snatch it back from him. He leaned back further on his chair, pushing it back onto two legs as he leaned out of her reach. "Stefan!" he exclaimed delightedly at the sound of his brother's voice. "And to what do I owe this pleasure at this late hour?" He batted away Elena's grappling hands with ease.

"Why do you have Elena's phone?" snapped Stefan harshly, but Damon continued undeterred.

"Me and Elena are friends, Stefan." he explained, his voice still remaining sickeningly upbeat as if nothing was giving him more pleasure than winding his brother up like this.

"You don't have any friends." replied Stefan and Damon frowned momentarily as he noticed the slight slurring of his brother's speech.

"Are you drunk?" he asked quickly, letting out a short sharp laugh. Stefan growled down the line in frustration and Damon laughed again, watching as Elena threw herself back into her seat, resigning herself to the fact that she wasn't getting her phone back anytime soon.

"You are, aren't you?" he asked again when Stefan didn't answer. He glanced down at his watch and his face lit up, "Oh my god," he said slowly, realisation dawning on him "you're drunk dialling her."

He watched Elena's face turn bright red and her mouth drop open.

Stefan sputtered down the phone, anxious to answer as soberly as possible. "No." he spat out, it being all he could manage for the time being.

"Nice try baby bro," quipped Damon, "but I can always tell when you're lying. This is classy, Stefan, real classy." He shook his head and continued laughing.

"Just let me speak to Elena." demanded Stefan, growing more annoyed by the second.

Damon drew in a sharp intake of breath, "I'm not really sure she wants to speak to you, Stefan." he explained and Elena bolted upright and glared at Damon, gesturing once more for him to give her the phone. "She's been all kinds of popular since you left," he strained, leaning himself further backwards, "she's practically beating them off with sticks," he chuckled, "police officers, handsome doctors..." He winked at her and she groaned and put her face in her hands woefully.

"Damon, please," pleaded Stefan, "just let me speak to her."

Damon groaned and shook his head, "God I forgot what an emotional drunk you were. Fine," He tossed the phone to Elena and she scrambled to catch it and lifted it to her ear shakily.

"Stefan?" she asked and glared across at Damon who was pretending to swoon dramatically, the back of his hand pressed to his forehead and his eyes closed.

She threw her empty coffee cup at him but he dodged it easily and wagged a finger at her playfully.

"Elena," breathed out Stefan, sounding relieved. "Why are you with Damon?" Elena could hear his words slur again and the sound of horns beeping in the background. She rolled her eyes, he had rung her and now she was the one being put through the Spanish Inquisition.

"We're on a night shift together," she answered and took one last look at Damon before standing up and walking out of earshot. She sighed heavily, "What do you want, Stefan?" she asked, trying to sound as neutral as possible.

"I wanted to speak to you" he explained, as if this was completely normal behaviour at this time in the morning.

"It's three in the morning, Stefan." she reminded him and she heard him sigh mournfully.

"I miss you." he said, "I wanted to tell you that I miss you." She shook her head and laughed bitterly.

"You can't do this Stefan." she said shortly, she ran a hand through her messy hair and waited for a response, but one didn't come. "_You_ left _me_, remember?" She could just hear him breathing heavily down the line. "Goodbye Stefan." she said quietly and pulled the phone away from her ear and hung up.

She strolled back over to the table where Damon was still leaning back in the chair, his feet propped on the table as he teetered daringly.

"Don't ever do that again." she warned darkly, jabbing a finger in his direction before storming off, her phone still clutched in her hand as she fought back tears. Why was she crying over Stefan? She was tired, that was the most logical answer; it had nothing whatsoever to do with Damon laughing in the face of her relationship.

* * *

><p>She avoided him for the rest of the night, whenever her pager went off and it showed his number she ignored it, knowing that there were likely to be plenty of other interns happy to be his lackey for the rest of the night. As dawn started to appear over the hospital she finally clocked off and tiredly trudged to the changing rooms. As luck would have it Damon was stood in the middle of the room, his foot on a bench as he laced up another expensive looking pair of shoes. She groaned and ignored him as he snapped his head up as soon as she walked in. She rummaged through her pockets for her locker key and jammed it angrily into the slot, not once looking in his direction.<p>

He stood and watched her, dumbfounded. "Elena," he began, his voice full of pleading, practically begging her to forgive him for whatever it was he was supposed to have done this time.

"Leave me alone." she mumbled, dragging her clothes out of her locker and kicking off her sneakers.

"Elena, come on-" he urged, feeling that she was being slightly unreasonable.

"You don't get it, do you?" she snapped, whirling around to face him. He remained silent, simply staring at her nonplussed. "You yell at me for getting hit on by some random guy and then you treat my relationship with Stefan as a complete joke!" she yelled and he struggled not to smirk.

"Elena, he drunk dialled you." he said obviously, it wasn't like he had written her a love letter.

"Yeah, Damon, he did!" her eyes were filling with tears again and he gulped awkwardly, "And that was the first time I had heard from him in almost a month!"

_Shit_, he thought, _what the hell was wrong with his brother? Who in their right mind would leave someone like her and then ignore her? He couldn't keep away from her for five minutes let alone a month! _

"So yeah, thanks for making a massive joke out of the fact that the first time I hear from the guy who royally screwed me over is when he's too drunk to know any different." She grabbed hold of her spare t-shirt and shook it aggressively between her hands before tugging at the bottom of her scrub top. His eyes trailed to where she had revealed a small sliver of skin before travelling back to her face where she had raised an eyebrow at him, pausing with her hands on her top.

"Oh right, sorry." He realised what she was getting at and turned around to face his locker door, rolling his eyes at her modesty. "I'm sorry, OK?" he continued, raising his hands out to the side apologetically as he continued to face the opposite direction to her. "I didn't think."

She snorted, "You never think." she quipped and he shrugged his shoulders, she was probably right. He heard a zip being done up and she sighed heavily. "You can look now." He spun around to, regretfully, see her fully clothed, pulling on a hoody.

"Forgive me?" he asked quietly and jutted out his bottom lip feebly as her head poked through the top of her hoody. She groaned and shook her head at him, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. This was what they did, they bickered and argued and made up quicker than most people probably took to fall out in the first place. "I'll buy you breakfast." he coaxed, eyeing her persuasively.

"Fine!" she ground out and smiled to herself as they walked out of the changing room together, not even flinching when he threw his arm over her shoulders casually.

* * *

><p><em>So please let me know what you think. I think I enjoy writing Damon and Elena as friends more than the awkwardness if I'm honest, but we shall see where their friendship leads...<em>

_Much love_

_xxxx_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N- Wow. I can't believe I'm nearly on 300 reviews! That's amazing you guys. _

_So one thing that I see every now and then and I really like is when author's talk about the songs they listen to when writing so I thought I'd do the same for this chapter. This is possibly one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in a long time and definitely one of my faves at the moment so please give it a listen, I've been playing it none stop whilst writing this._

_Pictures- Benjamin Francis Leftwich_

_Also please listen to anything by James Vincent McMorrow, I am going to see him live tomorrow night with my boyfriend and am ridiculously excited, his voice is sublime.  
><em>

_Also thanks again to ellisaco for reading this through :) Enjoy and plese continue to review x_

* * *

><p>Elena began to feel slightly uncomfortable as they reached the busy foyer of the hospital and Damon's arm was still wrapped around her shoulders. She glanced around the reception area, full of doctors about to start their shifts. She made a show of pulling her phone out of her pocket and lightly shrugged his arm off her as she pretended to type out a text to Bonnie.<p>

"I just need to go check my pigeon hole." she told him and headed over to the large column of holes set into a wall on the other side of the foyer.

He watched her walk away and tensed his hand, she had shrugged him off and he hadn't failed to notice the way in which she'd tensed up underneath his grasp as they'd entered the foyer and the nervous way in which she had scuttled over to the pigeon holes. Right now she was making a big show of shuffling through the small stack of letters that she had pulled out, most of the stuff they got was useless junk from pharmaceutical companies so he knew that none of it could be so interesting that she needed to scour it so vehemently. She was probably hoping that he'd tire of waiting and head outside. He knew her well enough bynow to know that pretty much everything she did sheassumed was being judged by every single person surrounding her.

He folded his arms and waited for her patiently, tapping his foot lightly and smiling slightly at members of staff who greeted him on their way into work.

"Well aren't you just about the cutest, most desperate thing I've ever seen?" He suppressed a shudder as he turned around to face the last person on the planet that he wanted to see in that moment - or any moment for that matter.

"Katherine." he spat out, looking her up and down and congratulating himself on the empty feeling inside that overcame him when he observed her in her marginally too tight skirt and low cut blouse.

"Waiting for your girlfriend?" She stuck her bottom lip out and pouted at him sarcastically.

He bit back a retort, swallowing it down like bile and feeling it burn away at his insides. He glanced across at Elena who was dramatically reading a letter, the piece of paper raised to her face as she frowned doing her best I'm-intently-reading-and-haven't-noticed-you-talking-to-your-ex expression.

"I miss you looking at me like that." cooed Katherine from behind him, watching him intently.

"I never looked at you like that," he snapped at her, "you were just a pair of legs and tits to me." She looked hurt for a split second and he spied a window of opportunity and continued. "Which, by the way, are starting to sag a little in your old age. Might want to stop wearing the low cut tops or I won't be the only one branded as desperate around here." He was surprised to see her smirk gleefully and glance down her top at the area he had drawn attention to.

"Oh please," she snorted, "these have at least another ten years in them." She threw him a devilish smile. "Your Daddy's money made sure of that."

His mouth dropped open as she winked at him and his eyes dropped to her chest. He felt like he was going to vomit as he stared at her, open mouthed. "Excuse me?" he finally choked out, praying to God that he had misinterpreted what she had just told him.

"You heard me," His heart began racing and he could feel it pounding in his ears. "your money paid for the best surgeon around, you know I don't do anything on the cheap, Damon."

"You used the money I gave you to get a...a..." he could not form the words as years of built up walls came crashing down. There had been no child, no pregnancy, no abortion. He knew he should feel relieved that he had not played a part in the murder of an innocent child but his mind had gone numb. He hadn't looked at her for more than a few seconds since he had learned they were working in the same hospital, sure he had heard the other male doctors discussing her figure but he had never really paid much attention before but now it all came screaming back to him. The low cut blouses and the lewd comments about her rack he heard in the locker room, she was always drawing attention to it and he had still believed the best in her. Up until that moment he had believed that she had really been pregnant and had accepted that at her young age she was scared, she had her whole future ahead of her and who was he to force her to have his child?

He forced down the feelings of nausea that had caused his knees to start feeling like jelly, if he didn't get some fresh air soon he was going to pass out, he was sure of it. _You are so pathetic Salvatore; you cannot let this woman have this effect on you. _

She was still watching him, a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips but her eyes suddenly slipped past his and focussed on someone behind him. "Hello Elena." she said brightly, plastering a fake smile across her face.

"Dr Pierce." answered Elena tersely, stopping at Damon's shoulder and glancing across him, frowning momentarily at his pale appearance. "Everything OK?" she asked him quietly, her attention completely diverted from Katherine and her voice full of concern. He felt himself smile slightly; in the short time that they had been friends he had to admit she was probably the most loyal friend he'd ever had, although he didn't really have a long list to choose from.

"Yeah, fine." He offered her a small smile and he saw her composure relax slightly at his reassurance. The moment between them was broken as a fourth person joined their group.

"Dr Pierce!" Matt had appeared next to the brunette doctor, grinning eagerly at her before his eyes swept over Elena and Damon. It had been weeks since he had spoken to Elena, still hurting from her rejection of him. She had truly believed it would have blown over so much quicker and they would have been friends again by now, but despite her persistent efforts to make conversation with him he continued to pretend like she did not exist.

"Oh, hello Matt." Katherine greeted him warmly, placing a hand on his broad shoulders and causing Elena to tense up. She may not have feelings for Matt in that way but seeing someone like Katherine touch him stirred intense jealousy and anger inside of her.

He grinned boyishly at her again, standing slightly taller and pushing his chest out when she laid her hand on him. "You left this in my car." He handed her a lipstick and she smiled gratefully, taking it from his outstretched hand.

"Oh you are such a sweetheart!" she exclaimed, trailing her hand down onto his chest and letting it linger there for a second before removing it and tossing the lipstick into her bag, it clearly meant nothing to her.

She glanced between Elena and Damon, smirking at Elena's outraged expression. "This must look awfully suspect," She placed a hand on her chest and giggled girlishly, Damon and Elena both shuddered at the forced sound but Matt seemed to blush even further. "Matt here was my hero the other night, my car broke down and he offered me a lift home. It's so rare to find a true gentleman these days, am I right Elena?" She turned to Elena and offered her a sly smile and a wink, her eyes sliding across to Damon momentarily. "Well," she declared suddenly, "must be going." She tottered away from the group, her heels echoing in the large foyer.

Matt's eyes drifted from watching her walk away back to Elena and Damon.

"Matt..." Elena began, reaching an arm forward towards him.

"I'm gunna be late." he mumbled, pulling away from her and shunning her touch before hurriedly walking away in the same direction as Katherine, disappearing through the double doors that led to the wards.

She didn't watch him go, instead she stared at the spot where he had been stood, desperately trying to process what had just happened.

"So..." Damon's voice broke her out of her trance, "how do you feel about washing that breakfast down with some tequila?"

* * *

><p>Two hours later they were both still sat at a booth in the Grill, empty shot glasses strewn between them, they hadn't even bothered with breakfast in the end, preferring the liquid variety instead. Elena grasped the full shot glass in front of her between her fingers as she pointed at Damon.<p>

"OK, OK I've got one." she declared and gestured for him to pick up his shot, he obliged and held it in front of him, waiting for her to speak. "Age you lost your virginity." She giggled and pointed at him again, waiting for his answer.

He placed a hand on his chest and opened his mouth in mock shock, a dramatic gasp falling from his lips, "Elena, I am appalled, _I_ happen to still be a virgin." She snorted loudly and then giggled at the noise she had made.

"Yeah, OK, and I'm actually wonder woman."

"OK fine," he laughed before pausing, "Wait, who wins here? The oldest or the youngest?" he asked, his words slurring as he clutched the shot, careful not to spill any of it.

"Oldest." she shrugged, then her eyes widened as something occurred to her. "Unless you were obscenely young and then that loses." He let out a short laugh and nodded. "You go first." she urged and eyed him nervously.

"Fifteen." Her mouth dropped open in shock. "What?" he asked, chuckling. "That's not _that_ young! Come on, your turn."

"Twenty." she admitted nervously and blushed as he raised an eyebrow. "I was a late bloomer, OK?" He raised his hands defensively.

"I never said a word." He gestured towards her shot. "Drink up." She obligingly knocked back the shot, grimacing and shaking her hands, sticking her tongue out in disgust as he pushed their shared glass of chaser towards her. "OK my turn." He yanked the bottle of tequila that had been at the edge of the table and frowned as he drained the last of its contents into their two glasses. "Most embarrassing college memory. Go." He pointed at her and she shrugged.

"I don't really have any." she declared, shrugging her shoulders again and frowning as he smirked across at her. "What?"

"None whatsoever?" he pressed, stifling a laugh.

"No! Why are you laughing?" she demanded and he shook his head.

"Oh nothing. So you've never say...thrown up on a guy before?" Her mouth dropped open and she gasped loudly.

"Who told you that!" she screamed at him as he broke out into laughter, clutching his sides. "Damon!" she shouted, drawing the attention of the few other customers in the Grill.

"Your roommate _loves_ to reminisce about the good old days, that's all." He ducked as she launched a rolled up napkin at his head, still laughing loudly.

"I cannot believe Bonnie." she muttered darkly, throwing herself back into her chair and folding her arms moodily.

"Oh come on grouchy, I bet I can top it." She raised an eyebrow at him challengingly and she thought she would die of satisfaction when a slight blush rose on his cheeks. Damon Salvatore blushed, oh this was gunna be good.

"Go on." she urged and he gulped nervously.

"One word." he began after a momentary hesitation, "Threesome."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "How is that an embarrassing story? It just proves you were an asshole even back then."

He shook his head, ignoring the jibe. "Not the cool kind." he added and watched with horror as realisation dawned across her face.

"Ewwwww." she squealed and he shushed her hurriedly.

"I didn't go through with it." he whispered frantically as she struggled to contain her giggles.

"Oh...my...God" she felt like she couldn't breathe she was laughing so hard, "You have to..." giggle "tell me..." giggle "everything." Hiccup.

He groaned, why was he doing this to himself? He was absolutely wasted and it wasn't even midday and what was worse was that he was getting wasted with his intern, who he was ridiculously attracted to and revealing every awful story about himself to her. _Do you not like sex?_ He asked himself furiously, _because it is definitely not happening with her after today._

She was still waiting for the story and he groaned, wishing he'd told her another story; there were plenty to choose from. "So I was hooking up with this girl for a while..."

"Ass." she muttered and he narrowed his eyes.

"I was in college, OK? I took what I got...which was a lot." She groaned and he chuckled slightly. "Anyway, one day she asks me if I want a threesome and well...I'm a guy so it was pretty much like all my best Christmas presents rolled into one." She rolled her eyes painfully. "So she turns up one night, with this guy and I was a bit confused and things didn't really click until he goes to the bathroom and comes back butt naked!" She burst out laughing and he threw her a look as she clapped her hands over her mouth as tears started spilling out of her eyes.

"What did you do?" she managed to squeak out in between laughs and hiccups.

"I bailed, Elena! I wasn't gunna stick around to see whether I enjoyed it or not!" He was laughing too at this point and he didn't care for a second that the bartender looked like he might chuck them out at any point and the old man in the corner kept throwing them reproachable stares, this was the most fun he had had for as long as he could remember.

They carried on swapping college stories for a while, him being amazed at some of the crazy things Elena had got up to. _His_ Elena- the sensible, controlled and restrained Elena._ His Elena, _he reprimanded himself_, she is not yours, idiot. _He watched her intently as she jabbered enthusiastically about some frat party or other she'd been particularly drunk at, all he could do was stare and drink her in. God, he would give anything for her to be his.

* * *

><p>Three hours after they had entered the Grill he regretfully looked at his watch and decided that it was probably time to leave. The bartender had cut them off a good half hour ago and he knew that in a few hours a hangover would start to set in, thank God neither of them had to work the next day. He pushed himself to his feet, feeling his head swim as he steadied himself on the table.<p>

"Come on, boozy. Let's get you home." If he was drunk then Elena was worse, she groaned as she shook her head, which was resting on top of her arms where she'd slumped against the table. They really were fine ambassadors for the medical profession. She pushed herself backwards, her hair falling across her face and stumbled to her feet. He lunged forwards to steady her as she staggered slightly, gripping the table for support.

He grabbed her arm and flung it around his shoulders and clutched her small waist with his other hand and shuffled her out of the bar. She groaned and let her head flop against his shoulder as they reached the fresh air; he breathed it in readily before hitching her up and beginning the walk towards her house. The irony of the situation wasn't lost on him as he recognised familiar sights on their walk to her house from the last time he had walked this way, when their situation had been reversed. She groaned softly next to him and he stopped dragging her alongside him.

"What are you-" She squealed lightly as he placed his arm underneath her knees and swept her upwards into his arms, her arms tightening around his neck. "Now why didn't I think of this last time?" she joked and he laughed lightly at the idea of her trying to pick him up.

"Christ, Elena," he groaned and jerked her upwards lightly into his arms more comfortably, "you really should start hitting the gym again." Her outraged look and open mouth sent a shockwave of guilt through him. _Don't joke about a woman's weight, noted._

"Maybe you're just not as strong as you think you are." she quipped and smirked at him.

"Whatever," He began walking again. "you're light as a feather." He could feel her grinning against his chest as she settled her head against him, nervous that she would feel his heart hammering through his ribcage.

They reached her house quickly, the cold air spurring him on to walk faster and she awkwardly fidgeted in his arms to try and retrieve her keys. She looked up at him and glanced down at the ground.

"Could you..." She tried to extricate herself from him but he had her in an iron grip.

"What, you don't want me to carry you over the threshold?" he asked, jutting out his bottom lip in mock offense.

"I think I'm fine thanks." she said sarcastically. He lowered her to her feet and immediately lunged forwards to steady her from behind as she swayed dangerously, trying to slot her key into the lock. He kept his hands on her hips until she finally managed to open the door and barrelled through it, tripping over her own feet and dragging him with her until they both ended up in a pile on the floor.

They both burst into a fit of giggles and he awkwardly rolled off her and lay on the floor next to her for a second. He glanced across at her, her hands wrapped around her stomach as she continued laughing, her hair splayed out on the floor around her head. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her as she turned her head to face him, their noses centimetres apart.

"What?" she asked quietly and propped herself up onto her elbows to look down at him.

He shook his head, his dark hair falling across his eyes. "Nothing." he replied and hauled himself to his feet, offering her a hand to pull her up.

He followed her into her kitchen and watched silently as she poured herself a glass of water and gulped it down. She ran a hand through her hair and then brushed past him and headed towards her stairs. Without a look behind her she started climbing them and didn't comment when he quietly followed her, telling himself that he just wanted to make sure she was OK before leaving.

She entered her room and plonked herself down on the edge of her bed unceremoniously. He glanced around her room, smirking as always at the mix of photos, medical texts and old teddies from her childhood. As usual whenever he was granted access to her room he perused her photos carefully.

"What's this one from?" he asked, triggering the start of one of his favourite games. Hearing her talk about old memories and tell him stories about her past had become something of an addiction to him; it aided the illusion that they'd been friends for a lot longer than they truly had.

He studied the picture carefully, in typical Damon style the one he had picked depicted her in a bikini, perched on the top of a large guy's shoulders, her arms raised above her head victoriously as she clutched some kind of trophy.

"Spring break, freshman year." she answered as she glanced across at the photo, she had looked at them all so many times that she didn't need to look in any real detail to know the exact story behind it. "We won the wrestling competition." she told him, smiling at the memory of the holiday spent at the beach and drinking dangerous amounts of alcohol.

"Who's the guy?" he asked, eyeing the shirtless male carefully, immediately judging himself against the anonymous figure.

"Just a friend from college." she answered dismissively, unaware of the clawing feeling of jealousy that dragged at his insides at the sight of her with any member of the male species, let alone one who had her legs wrapped round his neck. He tore his eyes away from the photo and glanced across at her.

She flung herself back onto her pillows, throwing an arm across her eyes.

"I am so wasted." she moaned and he snickered. He moved across to her and dragged the covers out from underneath her and threw them back over her. He pressed the edges into the side of her body gently and she smiled and chuckled lightly.

"Are you tucking me in?" she whispered, her voice full of sleep.

"Sshhh." he urged as he finished his ministrations and looked down at her. Her eyes had fallen closed and from the even sound of her breathing he presumed she was already asleep. He brushed a piece of hair out of her face and let his fingers drift slowly across her cheeks, relishing in the softness of her skin.

She mumbled something in her sleep and he eased himself backwards, ready to leave the room. Suddenly her small hand shot from underneath the sheets and latched onto his wrist. Hers eyes were still closed and he tried to pull away but she mumbled again.

"Stay with me." Never one to let a lady down he nodded slowly and gulped, forcing himself to breathe slowly. He kicked off his shoes, her hand still holding onto him and pulled back the covers lightly. She shifted over, making room for him, but not enough so that they weren't touching.

In making room for him to slide in next to her she had rolled onto her side, facing away from him and he presumed, as he lay immobile on his back, that she would sleep like that. However, it seemed she had other ideas as she suddenly rolled herself back over and scooted her head underneath his arm, which he lifted willingly, until she was situated on his chest. He held his arm in the air awkwardly before lightly draping it across her back in the most casual manner he could muster.

She stirred slightly, pressing herself into him further and he couldn't stop himself from leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head. She sighed softly, her warm breath caressing his chest through his thin shirt. Her right hand, which she had left to rest just below his shoulder, clasped onto his shirt suddenly, her fingers knotting in the fabric. She slowly raised her head to look up at him fully, her tired eyes opening to stare him the eye. He felt his heart jump as his eyes met hers;he bit down on the inside of his bottom lip. She was so beautiful it was a struggle to resist any physical reaction to her.

Seconds, minutes, days and hours seemed to pass as they stared at each other, Elena's hand still tangled up in the fabric of his shirt. He rubbed her back soothingly and she ran her tongue over her lips, parting them slightly. His eyes dropped to watch the action and something in him broke, the cord of restraint that had been strung tightly between his head and heart snapped in two, leaving the two to battle it out between them. His heart won as he lowered his head and chastely pressed his lips to hers, letting his eyes fall closed.

Her eyes remained open, yet she didn't pull away, she remained still until the sound of their lips parting seemed to echo around her silent room. She watched him breathe out slowly, his eyes fluttering open again to look down at her.

"Sorry..." he whispered breathlessly.

She shook her head lightly and he opened his mouth to tell her that he didn't need to hear her rejection again; it was a script that he'd already memorised in his head. However his words caught in his mouth as she slid her hand up his chest and around the back of his neck and pulled him back to her.

If he died tomorrow, he thought, as her velvety lips ran along his, dreamily moulding to each other, he would be a happy man. He rolled himself onto his side, his lips never once leaving hers as he wrapped her in his arms and pulled her tightly against him. She whimpered lightly and it was enough to make him pull back hesitantly.

Having her in his arms finally made him want to never stop kissing her, but the thought of not having her in his arms if he pushed her too far did make him stop. He searched her eyes for signs of regret or misgivings but was met instead with her quiet longing and the unspoken feelings between them.

_I can't control myself around you._

Her words came screaming back to him and he felt the band of logic start to stitch together and bridge the gap between his head and heart. If she couldn't control herself, he would have to be the voice of reason, he wasn't going to take advantage of her sudden change of heart for her to hate him later. _I hate being the voice of reason_, he though bitterly as he pushed himself backwards slightly as her eyes drooped closed and she leaned into him again.

"Elena..." His own voice sounded pathetic to his ears. She opened her eyes and frowned at him, "you're really drunk..." he tried to explain but she shook her head again, this time more determinately.

"I'm not _that_ drunk." she threw back at him, her voice full of lust. She latched onto the collar of his shirt and tried to tug him towards her with surprising strength.

"Ok...but I am." he continued, dragging every ounce of restraint he had in his body to the surface to remove her hands from his shirt and hold them in his own on his chest. "And you are far too amazing for me to wake up later and not remember this." he reasoned with her.

"You're rejecting me." It wasn't a question and he tried not to balk at the change in her tone.

"No...Elena..." he pleaded with her desperately.

"No I get it." she answered, "I guess this makes us even, huh?"

"You know it's not like that." he tried to assure her, wishing, not for the first time in his life, that he could go back in time about five minutes and put this right. "I don't wanna take advantage of you." he whispered, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear gently. "You know I'm right," he continued, "I'm always right." She smirked and rolled her eyes as he chuckled quietly.

"Really?" she asked sarcastically, "you're gunna go with humour right now?"

"It's all I've got." He could see her anger fading away and knew he had to take a chance to make this right. "I'm sorry," he repeated, "I just..."

"Lost control?"

"Yeah..." he answered, trying to keep his voice light.

She shrugged, "It's alright, it's not like it hasn't happened before right?" she said light heartedly.

"Exactly." he said and scooped her back into his arms, lying himself flat on his back and holding her tightly. "Let's get some sleep." he suggested and she nodded against his chest before drifting back into sleep.

* * *

><p>Bonnie let herself into the house later that evening, taking care tobe as quiet as possible. She crept up the stairs to her room and dumped her bag on her bed before heading for Elena's room to see if she was up yet. Friday night was their pizza night and she knew her flatmate would not want to miss out on the tradition.<p>

"Elena?" she sang out slowly, opening her roommate's door and peering around it. She gasped when she was met with the sight of her best friend being spooned by Damon Salvatore. She saw Elena stir and she froze on the spot, however it was too late to do anything as her friend propped herself onto her elbows and frowned at Bonnie.

"Bonnie?" she croaked, her sleepy voice cracking slightly.

Elena glanced across to the sleeping form of Damon and then back to Bonnie, he had not stirred so she slowly pulled back the covers and crept out of the bed. Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that the pair were both fully clothed. Elena placed a finger to her lips and gestured for her to leave the room as she followed her friend, pulling the door closed behind her.

Elena ran a hand through her bed hair, squinting her eyes as she grew accustomed to the light in the hallway. She pointed to Bonnie's room and the pair traipsed into the other room, the door shutting behind them.

"Sorry," she told Bonnie, "we just fell asleep after our shift." Bonnie raised an eyebrow at her friend as she settled on the opposite end of the bed to her, folding her legs underneath herself.

"Oh yeah?" asked Bonnie teasingly and Elena smirked before throwing a small cushion in her direction.

"Yes," she snapped jokingly, "well," she rocked the palm of her hand side to side, "sort of."

"Spill." Bonnie jumped in anxiously, her face lighting up. Although she had initially been sceptical of Elena's friendship with her attending she could see that he made her friend happy and in fairness to him, once you got past the superficial layers of ass hole, he wasn't so bad.

"We kind of... kissed again." admitted Elena quietly, hushing Bonnie frantically as her friend squealed in delight.

"That is _so_ cute," gushed Bonnie, "you guys are all...forbidden love and that." Elena rolled her eyes.

"At least try to form a coherent sentence." The cushion was thrown back in her direction and she dodged it and giggled. "It's really nothing." she continued and Bonnie nodded sarcastically.

"Sure." she drew out slowly.

Elena yawned widely, throwing a hand to her mouth. Bonnie wrinkled her nose and frowned.

"Have you been drinking?" she asked her friend, leaning forward and sniffing her curiously.

"Ew, do not sniff me!" exclaimed Elena, pushing her away lightly, "I had a few drinks at the Grill with Damon." she explained as if it was normal practice.

"In the middle of the day?" questioned Bonnie.

"I had a rough night and so did he; we both needed something to take our minds off things."

"So go for a run," lectured Bonnie and suddenly her eyes sprang open enthusiastically, "or..." she smiled deviously, "have sex."

"Ew no!" exclaimed Elena.

"Why not?" protested her friend, "I bet he's a total animal in the sack." Elena buried her head in her hands and shook it fiercely, laughing between her fingertips.

"I am not sleeping with Damon to blow off steam." she replied, trying to sound as sensible as possible while her cheeks flamed.

Bonnie shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm just saying, it's bound to happen sooner or later, everyone can spot the chemistry between you two from a mile off." Elena shook her head, effectively ending the discussion. Outside she heard the floorboards creak before someone gently knocked on the door.

She sprang to her feet, her cheeks flushing heavily as she opened the door and smiled shyly at Damon who stood on the other side of it.

"Hey." he said quietly. She bit her lip as she looked at him, his hair was dishevelled and fell across his face, a thin layer of stubble had started to form on his chin and his usually immaculate shirt was creased and crumpled. He looked simply adorable and she was struck by how boyish he looked in that instant.

"Hi, sleepyhead." she answered warmly.

"Hi, Dr. Salvatore," chirped Bonnie from behind her, peering behind Elena and waving at him. He smiled embarrassingly and ran a hand through his hair.

"Hi, Bonnie," He raised a hand in her direction.

"We didn't wake you, did we?" asked Elena, taking a step back as he settled himself against the doorpost.

"No, no," he answered casually, "I shouldn't have slept much longer anyway, I'll probably take off, my car's still at the hospital." he explained.

"Oh right, well I'll walk you-"

"Do you wanna stay for pizza, Dr. Salvatore?" Bonnie cut across her and Elena winced, she could practically feel the grin on Bonnie's face.

"Erm..." he chuckled lightly and looked at Elena for an answer. She shrugged dismissively, "Sure that'd be cool," he answered, "but you gotta stop calling me Dr Salvatore." He smirked at Bonnie and she nodded enthusiastically, her face lighting up.

Bonnie glanced between the pair before hopping to her feet. "I'll go order." she explained and slipped between the pair, leaving them alone in the hallway.

Elena grinned sheepishly, "Sorry," she began, "you don't have to stay if you have plans or..." What was wrong with her? Why was she suddenly so nervous? _Probably because your attending just walked in on a conversation about you sleeping with him. _

He chuckled again, _what was so freaking funny? _"No its fine, I haven't got any plans so this is perfect." He drew the last word out and she blushed furiously.

They stood awkwardly in silence and Elena was desperately searching for something to say, her tongue dry from all the alcohol.

"She's right, you know." He broke the silence, his voice sounding mischievous all of a sudden.

"About what?" asked Elena quietly, nervously running a hand through her hair.

"I am an animal in the sack." He winked at her and she thought that all the blood in her body must have rushed to her face.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, burying her face into her palms in shame. "How long were you listening for!" she screeched at him.

"Long enough." He smirked and she groaned into her hands. "Elena, I'm just messing with you, come on." He tugged at her hands to release her face, "If I can't joke about this stuff with you, who can I do it with?"

"It's not a joke to everyone like it is to you." she murmured and he rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Mother Teresa, I'm sorry if I offended you by boasting about my sexual prowess." She struggled not to smirk or roll her eyes. "In the future I'll keep the conversation strictly PG, OK?" He held her hands in his own, tugging on them to make her look up at him and smiling at her while waiting for her to give in.

"Fine." she ground out, "If you want to compensate for your deficiencies in the bedroom department by being verbally vulgar, I suppose I'll have to deal with it." She bobbed her tongue at him and he pulled her towards him roughly, his hands dropping to her sides and tickling her aggressively. "Damon!" she shrieked, flailing wildly to release herself from his grip.

"Very funny, smart alec." he growled, he stopped tickling her and grabbed her around the waist before flinging her over his shoulders effortlessly and heading for the stairs. "Now let's go get some pizza, I'm starving."

* * *

><p><em>Pleaseee review! It keeps me happy in my massive uni-induced stresses! xxx<em>


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N- Thanks so much for all the reviews again :) it never fails to make me smile_

_Thank you to my wonderful beta for massively improving this for me :)_

_Please continue to review and let me know what you think_

_xxxx_

* * *

><p>Pizza night quickly turned into movie night and Damon was subjected to watching Bridesmaids, which he decided wasn't half as funny as the general population made it out to be. Half of the jokes didn't even make sense and Elena and Bonnie were guffawing like there was nothing funnier on the planet. However, watching her in disbelief every time she laughed at something gave him ample opportunity to just watch her in general. Bonnie had chosen to sit on the large recliner chair in the lounge, leaving the sofa to him and Elena.<p>

They had begun the evening at opposite ends, but she now had her legs sprawled across his lap and her head was resting on his hand that he had reclined along the back of the sofa. Bonnie yawned loudly and stretched her arms out wide.

"I think I'm gunna go to bed, I'm exhausted." she announced, throwing a conspiratorial look at her best friend.

"Ok..." answered Elena chirpily, "I'm still quite awake from my nap earlier so I'll stay down here."

Bonnie chuckled lightly.

"Alrighty then," she winked at Elena and Damon frowned, glancing between the two. Was he missing something here?

"Good night." She plodded up the stairs and he heard her bedroom door close.

He instantly leapt up and snatched the remote from the side of the chair she had been sat in.

"Great!" he exclaimed, "now we can turn this crap off!" He switched the film off and Elena gasped.

"Damon! I was watching that." she whined and slapped his arm.

"I don't care," He shrugged. "it was the worst film ever; the jokes didn't even make sense."

"That's because you're a guy, you wouldn't understand half of them since you know nothing about women."

"Oh I know plenty about women," he whispered seductively, leaning forward and running a finger down her cheek. "want me to show you?" She laughed and slapped his hand away, rolling her eyes.

"Easy Casanova, calm down." She lightly shoved him away from her but he grasped hold of her and pulled her towards him until she was half lying on top of him, her legs tangled around his.

"Mmmm," he purred, stroking her hair, "much better."

She shook her head and smirked but didn't move, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't unbelievably comfortable right now.

"So come on then, couch commando," she demanded, "what do you want to watch?"

He flung his arm out to the side and began to flick irritatingly through the channels, never settling on anything long enough for her to declare an opinion on whether she wanted to watch it or not. Soon enough he had exhausted her TV box and switched the TV off altogether.

"Nope." he declared cheekily, "there's nothing on." He leaned back and threw his arm behind his head, the other still curled in her hair. She looked up at him from where her head lay on his chest and rolled her eyes. "I guess we should just go to bed then." he suggested.

"_We_ should go to bed?" she repeated dubiously, raising an eyebrow.

"I thought you'd never ask." he quipped and winked at her.

"Ugh," she groaned, sitting up and immediately feeling the loss of warm from his body. "you're incorrigible."

"Ooh, look who swallowed a dictionary!" he joked. "Seriously though I can leave if you want." He plastered his face with the most serious look he could muster. _That's it; lay it on thick, Salvatore. _

She rolled her eyes again and he knew he'd won. "I suppose it would be OK." she groaned. "But no funny business, OK?" She raised a finger at him and he laughed, placing a hand to his chest in mock offense.

"Moi?" he asked and smiled as they both stood up and headed to her room.

* * *

><p>Once they reached her room she awkwardly collected her pyjamas off her bed and went into the bathroom to get changed. She ran her fingers through her hair before tying it up and staring at herself in the mirror. This was totally normal practice she reminded herself, she had had plenty of sleepovers with friends, just because Damon was male and completely gorgeous it didn't change anything. She braced her hands on the bathroom counter and breathed slowly, willing her heart to stop beating so fast.<p>

_This doesn't mean anything_, she chanted in her head like a mantra, _this doesn't mean anything. _

Finally prepared to re-enter the room she swung the door open and gasped. "What are you doing?" she nearly screeched as she saw him lift up the covers and attempt to slip under them.

"Erm..." he stopped and looked up at her, perplexed as he held the sheets between his hands. He looked down at his state of undress and shrugged. "I forgot my jammys." He smirked and she groaned inwardly.

He was wearing boxers, nothing else, just boxers. All her work to calm her heartbeat was reversed as it set up a hammering pace against her ribcage once more. She begged her eyes not to travel over his torso and to ignore the lines of muscles that crossed his abdomen and the v-shaped bulges that ran down to his boxers. She could feel herself blushing and she struggled for words.

"Can you at least put a shirt on?" she pleaded.

He chuckled; sensing her awkwardness. "Worried you won't be able to keep your hands to yourself?" His cockiness snapped her out of her reverie and she calmed down slightly.

"Actually, I just don't want your sweaty body all over my sheets." she retorted, regaining some composure.

"Oh, so you think we'll be getting sweaty?" He raised his eyebrows and did that stupid eye thing that she hated and loved in equal measure.

"Ugh, forget it." she mumbled and quickly scurried to the side of the bed. "Just go to sleep." she ground out, pulling the covers over herself and feeling the mattress dip as he lay down beside her.

She flipped herself over to face away from him and gathered the sheets up under her chin. She heard him shuffle next to her and she couldn't work out which way he had turned until she felt his arm rest lightly on her waist. She opened her mouth to say something but he anticipated her speech.

"Just be a little spoon and shut up." he mumbled into her shoulder before pulling her closer to him. She sighed and let herself relax into him, her mantra picking up again in her head and lulling her into sleep.

* * *

><p>Elena thundered down the stairs as someone hammered on the door again. She jammed her hoody over her head aggressively as she scrambled to undo the latch on the door. She swung it open, an apology dying on her lips as she saw who it was. The last person she had expected to see on her doorstep on a Saturday morning was, in fact, on her doorstep. Looking like she had just come from a fashion show in skin tight jeans and unimaginably high boots and a tight fitted leather jacket.<p>

"Good morning, Elena." She smiled sweetly and Elena swallowed, her throat felt as dry as paper and her heart was racing uncontrollably.

"Dr Pierce." she choked out in surprise. "W-what are you doing here?" she asked, a thousand scenarios playing over and over in her head until it began to ache. She raised a hand to the messy bun on the top of her head, blushing as she took in Katherine's perfectly assembled appearance.

"May I come in?" she asked, just as sweetly, ignoring Elena's question and glancing past her into her hallway.

"Erm...it's not really a good time..." she trailed off nervously. _Your ex-boyfriend is in my bed, she thought, so no, you can't come in._

"Do you have company?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow expectantly so they both knew who she meant by 'company'.

"Uh...yeah something like that." mumbled Elena, folding her arms across her chest and taking a step out onto her porch, grateful that none of her neighbours were out to see her standing on her doorstep in her pyjamas. She pulled the door behind her, not letting it close completely but affording them a bit of privacy.

"That's actually what I came here to talk to you about."

Elena nodded silently, and looked up at Katherine who towered over her in her heels.

"Oh?" Her voice shook nervously and she cursed herself for being such a coward.

"Yes, I wanted to speak to you about yours and Damon's little relationship."

"We don't have a-"

"I'm not an idiot, Elena." she snapped viciously, cutting across her. "So please, at least afford me the courtesy of not treating me like one." The saccharine tone had returned, cutting through Elena's nerves. She waited anxiously for Katherine to continue. "I've seen you two together, it's obvious there's something between you two whether you want to admit it or not."

Elena found that she couldn't really deny it and decided to remain silent.

"Anyway, I've seen the way he is with you. You've got him bent over backwards, moping around after you at the hospital benefit before scurrying off into the woods together, falling into your arms when his nasty ex was mean to him." She pouted mockingly and Elena suppressed a shudder. "I actually find it a little boring how whipped he is-"

"Is this coming to a point, Katherine?" snapped Elena finally, tired of listening to her annoying voice harp on. "What is it that you want exactly?"

Katherine smirked, unperturbed by Elena's outburst. "I don't want you to see Damon anymore." she explained simply.

Elena scoffed, a loud peel of laughter echoing from her lips. "That's unfortunate because as you've noticed we kind of come as a pair these days."

Katherine shrugged dismissively and cocked her head to the side. This woman was ridiculous. Did she actually think she could come here, to her house, and tell her who she could and couldn't be friends with? They weren't fifteen and Katherine certainly wasn't any form of maternal figure to her so she didn't have a damn chance of convincing her.

"If you don't do as I say your friend will lose his job." she continued, however Elena continued to shrug and laugh, defiantly calling her bluff.

"Nice try, but Damon's been an attending at MFG longer than you, plus you have no proof whatsoever that there's anything going on between us. In short, you haven't got a leg to stand on."

This time it was Katherine's turn to chuckle. "I'm not talking about Damon." Elena frowned and tightened her arms around her middle. "I'm talking about your delightful friend Matt." Elena gasped and shook her head desperately.

"You can't...Matt...he..."

"Oh dear," chuckled Katherine maliciously, "look who's fire ran out of fuel. I can and I will, Elena. Because yes, you're right, I can't go after Damon but I can make Matt's job disappear like that." She snapped her fingers in Elena's face. "All it takes is one word from me about how he was a little bit too touchy feely when he offered me a ride home and it's back to working in bars for Matt Donovan."

"He wouldn't." Elena persisted, determined to think the best of her friend. Katherine threw her head back and laughed loudly.

"Of course he wouldn't!" she exclaimed, "He's so in love with you he'd chew off his own arm to be with you, but the hospital board doesn't know that and Elijah doesn't know that. The only people that know the truth are standing on this porch...and Matt of course but he doesn't really matter."

"Doesn't really matter?" Elena choked out. "You're threatening to ruin his life and you say he doesn't really matter!" She frantically ran a hand through her hair, trying to process what was happening. "Why are you doing this?" she questioned breathlessly. "Damon hates you; he'll never take you back, whether I'm around or not."

Katherine shrugged and extended a hand in front of her face, surveying her nails nonchalantly. "Damon may hate me now, but it's such a thin line, Elena. You hated him too once, if you remember."

Elena opened her mouth to remind her that she had never faked a pregnancy in order to get plastic surgery, however Katherine spoke before she could.

"You're so misguided if you actually think he wants anything from you except the chase." she explained to Elena as if they were old friends and she was warning her out of the goodness of her heart. "As soon as you give him what he wants he'll be so bored of you I doubt he'll even remember your name."

"Damon and I are friends." insisted Elena, if nothing ever happened between them they would still be friends. He wasn't just friends with her to get in her pants...was he? She shook her head, trying to physically dislodge the feelings of doubt that crept into her mind. This is what Damon had warned her about; Katherine didn't like competition and she would do anything to mess with her.

"You can protest all you want sweetie," continued Katherine, "Damon's feelings towards you are irrelevant from now on because you're going to do exactly as I say."

"You wouldn't-" pleaded Elena.

"Oh, but I would." She leaned in close to Elena. "Your friend's job means nothing to me, he'll just be collateral damage on the way to getting what I want."

"And what is that?" snapped Elena.

"To win, of course." she answered brightly. "I must be going anyway, it was lovely speaking to you Elena." she chimed before tottering down her porch steps and into her expensive sports car.

Elena remained on the porch and watched her speed off into the distance. What was she going to do? Should she tell Damon about what Katherine had said, surely he would be able to help? Then Matt's face appeared before her eyes. Matt had always been there for her, she had known him for years and the thought of her actions ruining his career was too much to bear.

She would do anything for him.

She slowly headed back into the house but did not re-enter her room. Instead she sat at the kitchen table in silence, not quite knowing what to do. She knew she would have to end whatever was going on with Damon. But how?

* * *

><p>She was still sat at the table, her hands clasped together in front of her when Damon headed downstairs and into the kitchen.<p>

"Morning." he groaned, stretching his arms above his head leisurely and letting out a large yawn. She tried desperately to not look at the toned expanse of torso that was revealed as he stretched upwards and ignored the way her heart jumped when his eyes met hers and he smirked.

"What?" he asked, chuckling.

She shook her head wryly and returned her attention to her entwined fingers in front of her on the table. She had to do it now, she decided. So she kept her head down, ignoring the sight of him walking around her kitchen in a t shirt and boxers and nothing else. He hopped up onto the counter and folded his arms, watching her carefully.

"You should go." she said quietly. "I've uh...I have a lot of stuff to do today and Bonnie might freak out if she sees you and..."

"OK stressy," he joked and slipped himself down off the counter top and walked over to her. "You're acting like we slept together. Oh wait!" He pressed a finger to his lips and smirked. "We did!"

"Will you keep your voice down!" she hissed, "We did not _sleep_ together, not in the way you're insinuating."

"Jesus, who spat in your cornflakes this morning?" He ruffled her hair and she slapped his hand away, irritated that he wasn't listening to her. What would it take for him to get the message? "I mean, if anyone should be grouchy this morning it should be me, because you're a _massive_ bed hog."

"Damon, get out!" she shouted loudly and he flinched, his hand frozen over her head.

He frowned for a second before shrugging.

"Fine." he went to leave the room and turned around just as he was about to leave. "Call me when you stop being irrational." he spat out and she listened for the sound of him storming up the stairs to get the rest of his clothes before hurrying out of her house and slamming the door.

She released a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. That had felt a lot worse than she'd anticipated.

* * *

><p>Later that day, after his anger had subsided and a few glasses of scotch had been tossed down his throat Damon reached for his phone and held it to his ear as it rang.<p>

"Hey Damon, what's up?" answered Alaric.

"Hey, you wanna go to the Grill tonight?" he asked anxiously. He desperately needed someone to vent to and as Alaric was the only one who he deemed trustworthy enough to speak to he was in sore need of a trip to the bar with him.

"Erm...I guess so, I'm not seeing Jenna tonight and I have tomorrow off so it should be fine."

"Perfect." he said shortly, "pick me up at seven."

"Hang on why can't you dri-" The call was cut short and Alaric sighed and shook his head; God knows what he was getting himself into.

Damon snapped the phone shut and tossed it onto the sofa, drumming his fingers on his empty glass of scotch distractedly. He chewed on the bottom of his lip before slamming the glass down and swiping the phone into his hands and flipping it back open.

'_Going to be at the Grill tonight if you feel like apologizing._' he typed out, his finger hovering over the send button anxiously. He circled the green button with his thumb anxiously before muttering, "Screw it." and pressing send.

He sighed heavily and threw himself down onto the sofa, turning the TV on and waiting anxiously for a reply.

Elena glanced down at her phone as it buzzed. She blew out a breath and immediately deleted the message as she saw who it was from. She didn't need him convincing her to be friends with him again; she knew all too well that if she spoke to him he would either sense something was wrong or she would find herself getting dragged in by him again. If it came down to choosing her friendship with Damon over Matt's happiness, she knew what her choice had to be.

She tapped her fingers on the kitchen table nervously and kicked her foot up and down as she mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do. There would be no going back from this; she knew that this would be the hammering the final nail into the coffin of their friendship, but it was the only way.

She mentally recounted the number in her head before dialling and waiting anxiously for an answer, silently praying that it went to voicemail.

"Hello?" the man down the end answered briskly.

Her throat immediately went dry and she found herself unable to speak. Just hang up, her thoughts screamed at her, then she considered that he was a cop and could probably trace the call.

"H-Hi, its Elena...Gilbert." She realised she had never given him her first name.

"Oh, hi!" His tone instantly became more upbeat and he sounded surprised. "I'm surprised you called." he admitted.

"Why?" she blurted out.

"Erm...I got the feeling maybe I'd overstepped, especially since that guy looked like he wanted to castrate me when he walked in the room." She let out a small laugh, picturing Damon's face when he'd walked in on them talking.

"Uh...no..." she answered hesitantly, "he can just be a bit protective sometimes, that's all." She wanted to steer the conversation away from Damon, the reason she was on the phone was to keep away from Damon.

"So..." he drawled out awkwardly, "did you maybe want to get that drink?" She could practically hear him hold his breath down the phone. Just bite the bullet and do it, she reassured herself.

"Yeah, how does tonight sound?" She said, attempting to infuse as much enthusiasm into her voice as possible.

"Tonight sounds perfect!" She could barely handle his eagerness, it was never a trait she found attractive, in fact it wreaked a little of desperation in her books.

"Great." she chirped, those amateur dramatics classes Bonnie had dragged her to in college really paying off. "Shall we say seven at the Grill?" She would take her own car, meet him there and then bail as soon as possible.

She knew full well that the first thing Damon would do after fighting with her would be to go and drink, it was cruel how she was using everything she knew about him to hurt him as much as possible.

However, the pain of seeing Matt lose his job would hurt a lot more.

* * *

><p>Damon sauntered into the bar, Alaric trailing behind him tossing his keys up into the air and catching them repeatedly.<p>

Damon knew he didn't even have to look around to know that she would be here somewhere. She may not have replied but her stubbornness would have subsided by now. He threw a quick cursory glance over to the bar and didn't spot her, she was probably hiding in a booth somewhere, embarrassed that she'd let her stupid hormones overrun her and turn her into a silly girl.

As the pair slid into a booth he heard someone's phone ring in the next booth over and a familiar voice answer. He smirked and rolled his eyes, he knew she wouldn't last.

"Hey Jenna," she answered wearily, they exchanged pleasantries for a few seconds before Elena interrupted her, "I'm really sorry, Jenna, but can I call you later, I'm at the Grill right now and I..." she paused, listening to what her aunt was saying. "What, here? No, I haven't seen him...no, no, I'm here with someone else. OK, well I'll keep an eye out for them. Bye." She hung up the phone and glanced across to the bar area warily.

Alaric was here somewhere, with Damon, her aunt had said. She knew she should be glad that her plan had worked, but she had been hoping that he wouldn't show up and it would fail. She couldn't see him so she presumed that he hadn't arrived yet. She glanced up to see Klaus heading towards her with two drinks in his hands; she smiled and gratefully accepted one from him as he slid into the booth.

"Sorry, it was busy at the bar." he apologized and she smiled meekly and took a sip from her drink. His confidence at the hospital had now faded and he was a nervous wreck, second guessing everything he said to her and trying to compliment her at every opportunity.

Damon listened intently to the phone conversation between Elena and her aunt, she could pretend all she liked that she didn't know he was here but he knew the truth. Although he was facing in the direction of her booth he couldn't see her over the high tops of the chair.

"I'm gunna get a beer." announced Alaric and stood up. Damon glanced up to watch him walk to the bar and narrowly avoid a guy carrying two drinks, heading in their direction. He frowned as he recognised who he was just before he sat down opposite Elena.

He felt his mouth drop open in shock as he heard them speaking awkwardly. She wouldn't do this to him, surely there had to be some mistake. She wouldn't spend the night in bed with him and then blow him off so she could go meet up with another guy.

Sure, he'd been keeping up the pretence of them being friends quite well, but they both knew their feelings for each other were brewing beneath the surface and he was sure that the seismic activity between them was going to blow its lid any day now.

There had to be a reasonable explanation for why the guy from earlier was sat with her now. Maybe she had come here to apologize and been accosted by him; she was too nice to turn him down and tell him to get lost. Yes, that had to be the reason.

Well, he certainly wasn't too nice to tell the guy to hop it, and he fully intended on doing so. He heard the guy's phone ring and he answered it throwing a hasty apology to Elena.

_What an idiot_, thought Damon, answering his phone when he was supposed to be talking to her. He saw him get up and leave the table and Damon spied his opening. He pushed himself to his feet and strolled round to the booth, throwing himself into the seat facing her.

"Well, well, well..." he began arrogantly, "this is awfully cosy." Her face dropped at the sight of him and she looked visibly uncomfortable. _Good_, he thought, she was going to feel like she made him feel this morning.

"Damon," she breathed out guiltily, "what are you doing here?" Her voice had a hint of accusation in it and he snorted derisively.

"What am _I_ doing here? What are _you_ doing here? This isn't exactly the apology I expected, you know." He folded his arms across his chest and regarded her carefully.

"What apology?" she snapped and he laughed again.

"Come on, Elena, you can cut the crap." She flinched at his words, he leaned forward and lent his arms on the table. "You came here to say sorry for being such a crazy bitch this morning, so why don't you lose your little friend and come join me for a drink and all will be forgotten, OK?"

"I didn't even know you'd be here." she lied. "And I certainly didn't come here to apologize to you." she insisted.

He opened his mouth to respond but closed it again, looking like a fish out of water. "Then why did you come here?" he asked, raising his eyebrows and waiting for her to come up with another lie.

However she didn't hesitate in answering him.

"I'm on a date." He coughed loudly as a laugh died on his lips.

"Excuse me?" he asked, trying to laugh at the ridiculous notion but finding it too hard.

"Is everything OK here?" The douche bag had returned and Damon felt himself overcome with rage. He didn't even look up but threw a hand up to silence the police officer.

"Everything's just peachy, Officer Dibble, so why don't you just run along and leave us be?" he snapped irritably, his eyes never leaving Elena's.

"Damon!" she reprimanded him.

"I think you should go." insisted Klaus, his voice lowering menacingly. However, Damon seemed unperturbed and simply chuckled, finally turning in his seat to look at the man towering over him.

"And I think you should calm down, this isn't CSI Mystic Falls, chief, and your bad cop routine isn't scaring anyone." he spat out maliciously.

"Fine!" Elena snapped angrily, "We'll leave." She pushed herself to her feet and snatched her purse from beside her. Klaus took a step to leave, turning away from Damon. However, Damon latched onto her arm, gripping her tightly.

"You're seriously leaving with this guy?" he asked incredulously. What the hell was happening!

She snatched her arm out of his grasp viciously and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "What I do is none of your business."

"Oh, I think it becomes my business after we sleep in the same bed together twice and kiss, Elena." he hissed quietly so Klaus couldn't hear.

"That was a mistake." she muttered darkly, the words piercing his heart.

"Bullshit." he whispered, his eyes boring into hers. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes momentarily, collecting the strength to deal the final blow.

"It won't happen again. You should just leave me alone, Damon." she told him and then swivelled on her heel and followed Klaus out the door, looping her arm through his as they left the bar.

* * *

><p><em>Dunnn-dunn-dunnnnnn (tense music there for those who didn't get it)<em>

_Let me know what you thought_

_xxx_


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N- So I guess I should start this with an apology for the delay in posting. I have actually had this finished for a while now but various reasons have prevented me from getting round to editing it etc and posting it. The main one of these being that I have started my final placement and I am exhaustedddd. _

_Also although I was once again thoroughly overwhelmed by the positive response to this chapter there were a few reviews that were quite negative and I would be lying if I said that it hadn't knocked my confidence in the story somewhat. Please take this in the best way possible but if you are not happy with the pace of the story or you find yourself reading it and you 'hate' certain parts of it, please stop reading. I wouldn't wish for my writing to cause that much frustration in anyone and I would certainly never tell another author that I hate what they have written simply because it doesn't suit me. So please do bare that in mind._

_Enough of the depressing stuff though. Please listen to Blood by Middle East while reading this. It is stunninggg!_

* * *

><p>Damon let his head drop into his hands after he watched the pair leave. He shook it furiously and looked up just as Alaric was heading back to the table with two pints in his hands. He looked over at where they had previously been sitting and back to where Damon was now, his head moving between the two tables like he was at a tennis match before sitting opposite his friend.<p>

"What's wrong with you?" he inquired, placing Damon's pint down in front of him and taking a long sip of his own.

Damon looked down at the drink in front of him as if he was confused by its presence, before darting his eyes around him wildly.

"Elena!" he suddenly cried out, "I think she's gone crazy."

Alaric snorted, sending beer flying everywhere.

"Sorry," he mumbled, wiping the back of his sleeve across his mouth. "Why?" he asked skeptically, "because she doesn't wanna be with you?"

"Well..." Damon sputtered desperately, "yeah!"

Alaric laughed again and shook his head at his friend.

"Look, she's a nice girl; she doesn't need you messing with her head. If she doesn't want to be with you then that's her choice." he lectured, doubtful that Damon was even listening.

"The thing is up until about five minutes ago I was convinced she did wanna be with me, then she showed up with that cop..."

"What cop?" interrupted Alaric.

"And suddenly I've got no business in her life," he continued, ignoring Alaric.

"Wow she really said that?"

"We were finally getting somewhere you know?" Alaric sighed and let him continue as he certainly wasn't listening to anything he had to say.

"Mmm-hmm." he replied lazily.

Damon continued to rant until Alaric reached the bottom of his pint; Damon's sat in front of him untouched, seeing as he hadn't paused for breath long enough to drink it.

"Mind if I have that?" he gestured to the pint and swiped it from underneath his friend's nose before he could protest.

"She thinks she's too good for me, that's what it is..."

Alaric rolled his eyes and listened to him whine on. If he had wanted to listen to someone whine at him he would have tagged along to one of Jenna's girls nights.

"Hey-where's my pint?" he suddenly exclaimed.

Alaric paused as he was halfway down the drink and licked his lips. "Um..." he began guiltily before laughing.

"Whatever, I think I need something a bit stronger anyway-" stated Damon and began to stand up to make his way to the bar.

"Sit down." snapped Alaric shortly. Damon's face dropped and he slumped back into his seat, frowning at his friend's outburst.

"Now I have just sat here for half an hour listening to you whine on about Elena so you're gunna sit there and listen to me for five minutes alright?" he said, as if speaking to a small, petulant child.

"Or what? You'll turn this car around and we'll go home?" quipped Damon, folding his arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Don't sass me young man." Alaric maintained his composure and jabbed a finger in Damon's face. "I hear enough about the girl from Jenna to know a thing or two about her." he began. "Firstly; she recently just lost one of her best friends because the guy couldn't keep his feelings about her to himself. So you've got to cut her a bit of slack if she decides to put some distance between the pair of you because she's petrified of it happening again.

Damon opened his mouth to speak but Alaric raised his finger again and he shut his mouth obligingly.

"Secondly, she's just about the best damn intern at that hospital and you know why? Because she works the hardest. She puts her everything into that job so don't for a second question her reasons for putting it first. She's brilliant at what she does because it's important to her, and you can't fault her for not wanting to risk it all for you.

Damon lowered his eyes, the feeling of guilt starting to settle in the pit of his stomach.

"And thirdly - I believe Jenna's nephew would prefix this with 'no homo' - if you think you could lose her to some skinny cop then you aren't as arrogant as I thought you were, because it pains me to say this but... you're one good looking son of a bitch." Damon smirked and shook his head, his friend's words sinking in. "The girl's been through a lot," Alaric continued, lowering his voice. "you've gotta give her a bit of time, man."

He offered his friend a smile and Damon nodded pensively. Alaric was right, she was scared, he'd known that all along but he'd let himself push her until she'd run away. She was obviously acting out tonight to try and scare him off, but he didn't scare easy and his friend was correct, if he thought that that guy was competition then he didn't deserve her anyway.

He'd made it his duty to know everything there was to know about her yet he'd ignored the way she'd continuously been giving off nervous signals when she was speaking to him tonight. She'd lied to him when she had said she hadn't expected to see him there and she'd looked utterly miserable on the arm of the police officer. He'd also failed to notice the twitch at the corners of her lips when he'd insulted the guy, she'd suppressed a smile and he hadn't even noticed. There was something going on with her and regardless of his feelings towards her, she was his friend and it pained him that she didn't think she could come to him with it.

"Give me your keys." Damon said suddenly, opening his palm out and beckoning at Alaric.

"Uh...no." he answered firmly.

"Come on, give me your keys," he persisted, "you can't drive anyway you've had two pints. So give me your keys."

"How am I going to get home?" whined Alaric.

"I don't know, call your girlfriend! Look, you wanted me to fix this, that's what I'm going to do but I need-your-keys." he urged and Alaric sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I knew you should have driven." he mumbled as he fished his keys from his pocket and threw them at Damon.

Damon caught them in mid air and jumped to his feet, before leaving he turned around and clapped Alaric on the back.

"Thanks buddy," he said warmly, "who knew you were so smart!"

He rushed out of the Grill and into the cool night air, frantically trying to remember where Alaric had parked.

* * *

><p>Elena and Klaus exited the Grill in silence, she still had her arm through his, but he hadn't failed to notice that she was keeping as much distance between the two of them as possible. She removed herself from him and took another step back, lowering her eyes to the ground guiltily.<p>

"I'm really sorry you had to see that." she mumbled at the floor, wringing her fingers anxiously.

"It's fine, honestly. I can't really blame the guy for being a bit obsessed with you; I mean...you're gorgeous." She chuckled and he saw her blush. She raised her head to offer him a small smile before glancing behind her to where she had parked. "Look..." he began nervously, "it would be a shame to end the night so soon, so why don't I drive you home?" She opened her mouth to protest and say she had her own car but he continued, "You've had a bit of a rough night; I'd be a rubbish police officer if I just let you drive home. Who knows, your crazy friend could be waiting for you."

He laughed, waiting for her to join him yet she made no sound.

She sighed and chewed on the bottom of her lip before shrugging. "Yeah, sure." she said begrudgingly. _You got yourself in this mess Elena, you can't back out now. _

The drive home was painfully awkward. Elena sat in silence, knotting her hands together in her lap and staring intently at them. She occasionally glanced across at him to offer directions, however there was little opportunity for this as it was a straightforward drive. She was thankful that she didn't live too far away so the experience would not be dragged out.

When they pulled up outside her house she unbuckled her seat belt and turned slightly in her seat to look across at him.

"Thanks..." she muttered weakly, placing her hand on the door handle and readying herself to leave.

"Elena..." he began slowly and reached a hand across to rest on her leg. She struggled not to tense under his touch, telling herself this was probably the way most first dates ended and she would have to keep up the act. "I know tonight didn't exactly go as planned but I'd really like to see you again. I think you're amazing and..." Words failed him as he stared at her and he decided to throw caution to the wind, leaning forward and capturing her face in his hands before pressing his lips to her.

Everything about the kiss was wrong to her, his hands were rough and calloused as he brushed them against her cheeks, his lips weren't soft enough and everything about it was rushed and...and not Damon.

She whimpered and he took the gentle sound as encouragement, forcing his tongue past her lips and letting it roam hungrily in the crevasses of her mouth. She managed to press her palms onto his chest and lightly pushed against him, pushing him off her enough to take a great heaving breath.

"I'm sorry...I can't..."

However her words had no meaning to him, all he could hear was the pounding of blood in his ears. She shook her head as he lunged back towards her yet he held it still between his hands, leaning over the gap between them and pulling her towards him. Her hands were now forcefully pushing against him yet he didn't budge and as he closed the space between them, her hands effectively trapped against his hard body.

His kisses were more insistent now and more desperate and she struggled for breath as one of his hands dropped from her face and ran down the side of her breasts. This was not the way she had seen this whole thing panning out. _The best laid plans of mice and men_...she thought regretfully as his hand came to rest on her breast, palming and squeezing it aggressively. She began to struggle against him and mercifully she felt him pull back from her, maybe he had finally got the message.

"Please...stop..." she gasped as he met her eyes. She thought she might choke or vomit when she saw the lust and desire behind his dark eyes, the glint of malevolence that suggested he was enjoying this too much.

She bit down on her lip so hard that she could soon taste the irony trickles of blood at the back of her throat. She scrambled her hand behind her to tug on the handle, however he chuckled as her efforts yielded nothing but the clunking of the locked car door.

"What kind of cop would I be if I just let people jump out of my car? Child locks really are a blessing." he joked and the feeling of nausea and panic returned, rising in the back of her throat like bile.

_How could she have been so wrong about someone_, she thought frantically, tugging persistently on the handle and looking across the door for a release for the lock.

"Please just..."

"Just what, Elena?" he asked, his voice full of mock sincerity.

"Please just let me leave." she begged, her eyes filling up with tears as all kinds of horrendous scenarios that were likely to happen to her ran through her head.

"Elena," he cooed, stroking a finger along her cheekbone, eliciting a violent shudder from her. "Didn't I say it would be a shame to end the night so soon?" He chuckled deeply as he took in her panicked expression. "You really are adorable," he told her, running his hand up and down her cheek before dropping it to her chest again. "No wonder you have your little doctor friend all tied up in knots. Did you let him do this to you as well?" he pondered, circling his thumb over her nipple as her chest heaved up and down and she held back a sob. "I bet you did. I bet that's why he's so in love with you. One taste of you could drive a man crazy for life."

He reached forward again and she clamped her eyes shut as she saw his lips coming towards hers.

What happened next she wasn't entirely sure; however she heard him yelp and felt him pull back from her sharply. Her eyes flew open as he was dragged out of the car from behind and dumped onto the floor.

The door was slammed shut again and she heard a thudding sound as his body collided with the door. She couldn't see past his body to know who had grabbed him but the person was now laying punch after punch into his face and stomach. She wasted no time in swiveling in her seat and pulling hysterically on the door handle again, screaming in frustration as it refused to budge.

She heard a crunching sound and someone drop to the ground and she turned back, her hand remaining on the handle to see Klaus slump to the ground. Her eyes focused through her tears on the figure standing over him, he wiped his leather sleeve across his bleeding nose and said something quietly to the figure lying on the floor.

She thought she might die of relief as he hurried round to her side of the car and flung the door open, pulling her into his arms in one movement.

"Damon," she sobbed into his shoulder as he held her so tightly he thought she might burst in his arms.

"Sshhh," he whispered soothingly, rubbing his hands across her back. "you're OK."

He repeated the words over and over in her ear, trying to convince himself as much as her. He pulled back lightly to look down at her face, her eye makeup was smeared below her eyes and her face shone where tears had run tracks down her cheeks. He heard a shuffle from the other side of the car and he closed the car door, pulling her onto her feet and away from the vehicle.

He removed her from his arms, his body screaming at him to continue to hold onto her, and from the way in which her hands clasped onto him like a vice she obviously felt the same.

"I just need you to stay here for a second, love." he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

She nodded weakly, trying not to start crying again as she watched him walk back round to the driver's side of the car. She could see from underneath the car that Klaus had managed to drag himself to his feet, her heart raced as she thought about what he might do to Damon, but she couldn't force her feet to move her around to warn him. She heard Klaus groan loudly and she wondered what Damon had done to him, he was a cop, there was sure to be serious repercussions to this.

"You just signed your own death sentence." he warned Damon, however she heard Damon chuckle lightly, feigning a calmness that she was sure he didn't possess.

"We'll see about that." he answered light heartedly, as if he hadn't just pummelled the guy almost in unconsciousness, "If you ever come near her again, or anyone in this town for that matter, you'll find yourself with an attempted rape charge hanging so heavily over your head you'd be lucky if you ever saw the light of day again." he warned, his voice dropping the calm facade. "You've heard the name Salvatore, right? Best lawyer on the east coast? Well the bastard just so happens to be my father, so if I were you I'd get in your car and I would drive far, far away from here and never look back."

She heard the crunch of gravel as he made his way back round to her, immediately pulling her against him again. She heard the slam of a car door but didn't look back, simply letting Damon lead her into her house, pressed against his body.

* * *

><p>Once they entered the house he deposited her on the couch and immediately wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. He sat next to her with his arms around her for a minute or so before he stood up, the way she raised her brown eyes at him made him feel like the worst person in the world just for letting go of her.<p>

"I'm just gunna go get you some water OK?" he reassured her, crouching down in front of her and once more pushing her hair back, rubbing his thumb lightly along her jaw. His eyes focused on the knuckles of his hand and he smiled lopsidedly. "And to wash the blood off my hands." he quipped. She gasped and clutched his hand, bringing it into her line of sight and examining his scraped knuckles. "Relax, Elena, it's not the first time you've seen blood." he joked but she shook her head and looked up at him, her eyes full of tears.

"You shouldn't have done that for me." Her voice was so quiet that even in the silence of the room he struggled to hear her.

"I would do anything for you." he explained to her slowly, holding her gaze.

"Are you..." she hesitated and swallowed heavily. "are you angry at me?"

He felt his heart jump as he saw the desperation in her eyes and he was reminded of how young she was.

"Of course not." he told her, laughing under his breath at the idea of him being angry at her after all this.

"I was horrible to you." she continued, but he shushed her, placing a finger to her lips.

"Elena," he stared her fully in the eyes. "I used to go out with Katherine, I can handle bitchy, OK?"

His attempt at levity clearly failed as she immediately tensed up, blinking back tears that threatened to spill over again. What had he said? Katherine? Surely the thought of his relationship with Katherine was not enough to move her to tears?

"Elena is something going on that I should know about?" he asked warily. "Something to do with Katherine?"

She dropped her gaze, fidgeting her hands in her lap before pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

"I can't tell you." she whispered, a tear falling onto her hands.

"You can tell me anything." he reassured her.

"I can't," she insisted, holding back a sob, "she'll know**!**" she declared desperately.

"Elena," he said firmly, pulling her hands off her lap to hold them in his. "if you don't tell me, I can't fix it."

She tugged her hands out of his grasp and shook her head.

"You can't fix this." she told him, her resolve close to breaking point. "She...she threatened him." Her voice cracked as she let out a heaving sob, clutching her arms around her waist.

"Who? Elena, who did she threaten?" She was inconsolable as she wept openly, slowly rocking herself back and forth and he wished with everything he had that he could do something to make it right.

"Elena," His voice cracked, practically pleading with her to tell him.

"Matt," she answered finally, her voice barely a whisper. "She'll get him fired if we...if you and I don't..."

"If we don't stop seeing each other." he finished for her morosely.

Typical Katherine, he thought with disgust. A couple of years ago, hell a couple of weeks ago he would never have believed she would go to these lengths to get what she wanted. He had warned Elena that she didn't like competition but not for a second did he think it would lead to this. She was blackmailing Elena and putting the pressure of her friend's future on her shoulders. He shook his head and ran a shaky hand, still bloody, hand through this hair.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he croaked, running his thumb over her knee cap soothingly.

"I just..." She sniffed and raised her shoulders before letting them drop hopelessly and looking him clearly in the eye. "She has put you through so much, I just couldn't stand the thought of me being another source of pain. I didn't want you to worry-"

"So you thought trying to make me hate you was a good plan?" he asked, attempting to insert some levity into the situation.

She laughed quietly.

"I never said it was a good plan."

He gave her a lopsided smile and pushed himself to his feet, his knees creaking and loosening after being bent for such a long time.

He traipsed into her kitchen and filled up a glass of water before placing his own hands under the cool stream of water. He hissed slightly as the freezing water hit his grazed knuckles. The blood washed away and revealed inflamed scratches across the back of his hand. He felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist from behind and he tensed before relaxing as he heard Elena sigh and rest her cheek against his solid back. He hadn't heard her enter the kitchen and he reached forward to turn the tap off.

Turning himself around and resting his back against the counter he pulled her closer into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"What are we going to do?" He heard her mumble into his chest.

"We'll figure that out later." he told her, because he honestly had no clue.

She pulled herself back from him slightly and looked up at him.

"You're always saving me," she reflected and he smiled slightly, brushing a piece of hair from her face.

"What can I say? I've got a bit of hero complex; it comes with the job I guess."

She laughed into his chest and the sound vibrated through his whole body. He instantly felt better at hearing the sound and held her tighter for a few more seconds before she let go of him.

"Is Bonnie in?" he inquired and she shook her head.

"She has a couple of days off so she went to go and see Jeremy today."

"Bonnie and Jeremy?" He frowned and Elena nodded silently, happy for the change in conversation. "Huh," He shrugged and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Let's get you to bed trouble," he paused and cleared his throat, "I'll be right down here if you need me."

"Damon-" she began in protest. It was obvious that her actions had left at least some small mark upon him. He raised a hand to silence her and shook his head slightly.

"Elena," he replied, copying her tone, "I will be down here, OK?" he repeated more firmly.

* * *

><p>Damon's eyes flew open as soon as he heard the floorboards above his head creeping. He glanced down at his body as a shiver ran through him and he saw that he had kicked off the bedding Elena had provided him with. He listened in silence for a repetition of the noise but when he realised that all was silent he closed his eyes again, pulled the covers back over him and immediately went back to sleep.<p>

He wasn't sure how long he had slept for before he woke up again, but estimated that it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. This time he was sure that he heard the noise of someone on the stairs; he let out a yelp of surprise as he felt someone's hand close over his wrist.

The person quickly withdrew their hand and he squinted in the darkness, his eyes struggling to adjust to focus on the figure in front of him.

"Elena-" his husky voice caught on her name as she finally came into focus. "what are you-"

She took hold of his wrist once more and he wondered for a second if she was sleep walking, however her eyes were wide open and alert and she offered him a silent smile before pulling him upwards and towards her. Without a word she turned and pulled him back towards the staircase. He stumbled over words as she started to ascend the stairs, his wrist still held between her delicate fingers.

He concluded that it was probably best not to speak, just follow. Since when had he become a follower, he mused? They finally reached her room and she pushed the door open and led him inside before shutting it behind them and tugging him towards her bed.

"Elena-" He finally jammed his tongue from the roof of his mouth and managed to stutter the words out, tripping over them like a virgin on prom night.

He thought he would have the strength and the willpower to leave, to walk out the door, back to the couch, close his eyes and forget this ever happened. Until she uttered that one word.

"Please,"

He shut his eyes and drew a breath through his nose. Christ, he needed a drink right now. Or maybe a life coach, hell he'd need a motivational speaker to get him to move his feet and leave her room right now.

She pulled gently on his wrist and he obliged by following her to the edge of the bed. As the back of her knees hit the bottom of the bed she sat down and he began to pull away from her. However, she pulled on his wrist again and in his sleep filled state he momentarily lost his balance, falling forwards and sending her backwards on the bed until he was lying on top of her. She smiled brilliantly and he wondered if it wasn't what she had planned all along.

And then suddenly her hands were moving; they began in his hair, running through it softly and ruffling it between her fingers. Slowly her fingers drifted over his cheeks and along his jaw, the tips of her index fingers lightly grazing over his lips. If she were blind he imagined she would be generating the most detailed image of him possible from her ministrations. He struggled to speak and simply let her continue as her hands continued lower and settled across his broad shoulders, smoothing the white t shirt he was wearing across them. He let out a shuddering breath as she ran her flat palms down his chest and he suppressed a moan, biting down hard on his lip.

He thought she might stop once she reached the waistband of his boxers, for that is all he had slept in. However, her hands skimmed down the sides of his ass and down his thighs. He couldn't help but shiver as her light touch descended down his legs and finally came to a rest just below his hips.

"What are you doing?" he whispered breathlessly and he was met with a shy smile.

"Is this new to you?" she asked and he frowned lightly, more confused now than ever.

"What?"

"You've done so much," she explained, "has anyone ever touched you like this before?"

She ran her hands up his arms and he shuddered again and let out a nervous laugh. She raised an eyebrow and he realised she was waiting for a serious answer. Had anyone ever touched him like that? He thought that a more appropriate question would be whether anyone had ever elicited a response like this from him with a simple touch? The answer being no, not even close.

"Well?" she pressed.

He nervously shook his head, at a loss for words.

"No one ever will." she stated simply.

"What do you mean?" he asked quietly, his heart hammering against his chest.

"No one will ever touch you like this," she told him, her voice quivering, "no one will ever love you like I do."

If someone had strapped him to a monitor in that moment it was probable that they'd think he'd just had a massive heart attack. His thoughts flew into disarray as the words left her mouth. He considered what she had said for a second. No one would ever love him like she loved him? That wouldn't be hard, he thought, seeing as no one had ever really loved him. Not in the ways that counted anyway. Katherine had loved him for his money, plenty of women had loved him for his body, his mother had loved him because he was a reincarnation of herself and his father...well he didn't really love him for anything.

"Y-you love me?" he stuttered and she simply nodded, returning her hands to cup either side of his face.

"I see it now." she explained, her voice barely a whisper. "Trying to cut you out of my life was...impossible." Tears began to well behind her eyes and he had to fight hard with himself to stop the same thing happening to him.

"Elena-"

"It's OK," she continued, running her thumb across his cheek. "you don't have to say it back. I just wanted you to know and...I wanted to show you."

She pulled him down towards her and kissed him. He didn't push her off; he didn't even try to protest. He just enjoyed the feeling of her lips against his as she passionately ran her tongue along his bottom lip and he opened his mouth against hers willingly. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew this would probably end badly, but all thoughts flew out his head when she began to grip the hem of his shirt. She moved it up his body until it was bunched over his chest before pulling away from him as if looking for confirmation to continue. She must have found what she was looking for in his eyes because she quickly pulled the fabric up and over his head, tossing it to the side of her bed.

Nothing could compare to the feel of her hands over his bare chest, and he bit back a moan as her fingernails lightly scraped against his skin as she began kissing him again. He felt her wriggle her hands between them and the feel of fabric scraping past his face alerted him to the fact that she had removed her top. His hands seemed to be working independently of his brain as they immediately traveled up her body, and his heart jumped as he realised she wasn't wearing a bra. It was her turn to moan now and he swallowed the sound as it traveled between their joined lips.

The only things separating them now were her pyjama shorts and his boxers, but she quickly put paid to that and he silently reprimanded himself for allowing himself to wonder if this rapid undressing was due to a lot of previous practice. Soon they were naked and he eagerly let his eyes rake all over her body. She blushed; the first sign of hesitation she had shown since she had woken him up. He pulled back at the sight of it, gazing into her eyes as a slight frown peppered his forehead.

"Don't ask me if I'm sure." she told him warily, anticipating his words. His last ounce of restraint evaporated and he crushed his lips against hers, one hand tangling in her hair and the other resting on her bare waist. One of her hands slithered between them and she entwined their fingers together, raising their joined hands above her head. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice whispered that this was what going home felt like.

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><p><em>Sorry, I really can't write smut haha. Thank you to my wonderful beta for putting up with my many mistakes and made up words :)<em>


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N- So I guess I should begin with an apology. Things have been a tad hectic to say the least, it feels like a million years ago since I last updated but I've been slowly chipping away at this and finally I reached a point where it was post-able. It is a bit short but I just wanted to get it up and start writing the next chapter._

_Thank you for all your lovely reviews on the last chapter :) I hope you enjoy this one_

* * *

><p>Elena scrunched her eyes up and lifted the covers to shield her eyes from the sunshine blazing through her window and directly onto her face. She shuffled herself lower down her bed and threw herself aggressively onto her side, trying to escape the sun's rays.<p>

An 'uumph' noise came from the other side of her bed. She yelped quietly and opened one eye a fraction of an inch to peer at the source of the noise.

Her heart warmed when she saw the unbelievable sight of Damon Salvatore lying next to her, seemingly naked and utterly adorable as a frown played across his forehead. She opened her eyes fully and breathed out slowly, smirking at how her breath fluttered the messy strands of hair that fell across his forehead.

She looked down to his bare chest and watched it rise and fall regularly. He was still asleep, she decided. There was plenty of time for her to dissect what had happened the night before and think it over in her head.

"If you're awake you could make yourself useful and get some me some breakfast." The sound of his husky voice made her jump and she raised a hand to her chest before looking down and realising that she too was naked.

A crimson blush immediately spread across her cheeks and neck, and if Damon was to open his eyes in that moment he would see how far down it spread. All her insecurities wormed their way back into her head and she chastised herself for her wanton ways the previous night.

She tugged her duvet up to her chin and desperately glanced around her room, spying her top flung into a corner on the far side of the room. She was effectively stuck; she knew Damon wasn't about to leave in a hurry and if she was honest the thought of him leaving stirred up a feeling of loss inside her that was so overwhelming, her insecurities momentarily flew out of her mind.

He stretched languidly beside her, his mouth opening in a silent yawn before he inched his eyes open a fraction, squinting at the sunshine pouring through her thin curtains.

"Morning," he growled warmly, the corners of his mouth turning up into a smirk before his eyes flicked across her white knuckles clutching onto the edge of the sheets around her chin. He frowned in question and she offered him a shy smile.

"Morning," she squeaked and visibly flinched when he reached across to stroke her hair away from her face.

"Everything OK?" he asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at her. She had pulled the covers so far over her now that little was left to cover his own modesty. However, any sense of embarrassment he might have felt was forgotten by the sight of the look of fear written across her face.

"Everything is fine." she whispered, as if she was afraid that if she spoke any louder her lie would reveal itself "Why wouldn't it be?" she asked frantically.

He chuckled and shook his head.

"OK, neurotic Nancy. What's got you wound up so tight?"

She shrugged. However, a draft of cold air ran across the back of her neck and it turned into a shudder that ran through her whole body. She tucked the covers closer, if possible, to her body and smiled shyly at him.

"Nothing is wrong." she said, trying to convince herself as much as him.  
>He ran his eyes up and down her form, not missing the way her body shook.<p>

"Are you cold?" he asked, inching his body closer to hers.

She could feel the heat emanating off his naked skin and she winced like she had been burned when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He tugged her towards him but she resisted, holding herself firmly against the headboard until they looked as if they had entered some ridiculous bedroom tug-of-war contest.

"Elena!" he half laughed, half exclaimed. He removed his arm from around her and folded them across his bare chest. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded. "Do you..." His voice dropped and his face was suddenly struck with a vulnerability that struck her heart. "Do you regret last night? Is that what this is about?"

She shook her head furiously.

"No, of course not." She felt him draw back from her and her hand shot out to latch onto his wrist. "Don't go." she urged, imploring him with her eyes to stay.  
>She took a deep, shaky breath and relaxed her hold on the covers; they still remained covering her but she didn't look so possessive now.<p>

"I just..." Her voice cracked slightly with anxiety "I've never really been like this," She gestured at their naked bodies, "with anybody before."

"What?" he asked, looking between them in confusion, "naked?" His eyes widened with shock and regret as he stuttered, "You said...you weren't...please tell me you weren't a virgin, Elena?"

"No, no, no, I just mean I've never been...exposed with anyone before." She cringed, a blush creeping up her neck again all the way to her cheeks.

"How is that even possible?" he asked, frowning.

"Well whenever I- _you know_, before I always made sure the lights were out and I always left as many clothes on as possible." A smile broke out across his face and she frowned. "What?"

"Elena," he began slowly, taking her hands in his and brushing a kiss across her knuckles, "as honoured as I am that you felt you could be...exposed with me. You should know that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met. You are breathtaking,"

He punctuated each word with a kiss, starting with her forehead, then her nose and finally her lips. She giggled girlishly into his kiss as he drew back the covers and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her on top of him and smiling blissfully as she returned his kiss with fervor.

* * *

><p>Elena bent her head over the desk as she scribbled messily in the already extensive notes she had written in her patient's file. She rubbed her forehead and paused, trying to recount what exactly she had done and how to write it down coherently. Two consecutive nights spent with Damon had taken its toll on not only her energy levels but also her ability to concentrate on anything without the vision of his eyes drifting into her mind. She groaned and scratched out her previous sentence furiously and shook her head.<p>

"Scuse me, doc," a low male voice spoke up from behind her, "I've suddenly come over all faint."

She whipped around, ready to help whoever it was asking her for help but almost lost her balance as she came to a stop. The man in front of her certainly didn't look faint, he looked the complete opposite of unwell.

"Jamie!" she squealed in surprise, her eyes widening as her voice rose an octave that was less than comfortable for her larynx.

She took in the sight of the handsome man in front of her. He was dressed impeccably in a suit that had almost definitely been handmade for him, his tall slim frame perfectly enhanced by the fit of it. This man was worlds away from the image of him she had grown used to; one who never changed out of sweatpants and hoodies and had probably never worn a suit in his life.  
>He smirked lazily and flashed his teeth at her.<p>

"The one and only," he proclaimed before opening his arms out wide and pulling her in for a hug. He gripped her tightly, wrapping a hand protectively around the back of her head and letting his other hand rest on her lower back.

"What are you doing here?" She pulled herself backwards and looked up at him in surprise, her neck craning to look into his eyes.

"I had a research conference in Richmond so I came to see Matt, and I couldn't resist looking in on my favourite Gilbert." She grinned childishly and a shiver of joy ran through her at his words. "So how is Jeremy?" he asked mischievously, grinning widely.

She slapped his chest affectionately and giggled.

"You had me worried there for a second," She laughed at his frown. "I thought you'd taken Jamie and turned him into some mindless suit but now I realise that you're still an ass...the earth is back on its axis."

"Ouch, 'Lena," He raised a hand to cover his heart dramatically, "I'll have you know that I am a highly respected medical rep these days. No cleaning up vomit and holding disgusting people's hands for me."

She scoffed and shook her head, letting a small laugh escape from her lips.

"You really are a testament to the medical profession."

"I know, I'm brilliant aren't I?" She rolled her eyes."Anywho," he announced, running a hand through his sandy blonde hair, "party at Matty's tonight, for old time's sake?"

Elena immediately tensed up and sighed heavily.

"I don't think so." she answered slowly, shaking her head. He frowned, noticing her sudden discomfort.

"Why not?" he asked. "Did something happen with you two?"

"I don't wanna talk about it, Jamie." she said sharply, beginning to turn around to return to her notes.

"Oh God," He ran another hand through his hair and let his palm slide down his face, coming to rest over his mouth as he shook his head. "He told you didn't he?" he asked, but he already knew the answer from her face. "He actually declared his undying love for you." It was not a question. "And I'm going to hazard a guess and say that it didn't go so well?"

Elena sighed again and shrugged, smiling sadly.

"He hates me." she said simply, willing herself not to cry, not to look this desperate in front of Jamie after not seeing him in so long.

She was supposed to be the strong Elena, the one who had excelled at everything in college and had still managed to have a good time. She was not supposed to be standing in the middle of a hospital ward wearing scrubs that hadn't been washed since, well she didn't like to think about it, her hair a mess, and looking like she had barely slept in two days. And Jamie, the constant party animal who had barely scraped through med school was not supposed to be standing in front of her wearing a suit that probably cost more than her month's wages asking about his best friend, who she had rejected.

"That's not true, Lena, he could never hate you." His voice had taken on a melodic, serious tone that she wasn't used to and she felt her eyes well up all over again at the sincerity overflowing from him. "Look," he levelled with her, "Matt has been in love with you since forever and you've obviously been in love with him since well...never." She groaned at his childish reasoning. "But you can't blame the guy for putting himself out there."

He shrugged and she recognised the old Jamie in him, he had never cared too much about emotions and hard feelings. He saw everything in black and white and Elena usually found his opinions and insights refreshing. She began to feel more relaxed and felt the tension in her shoulders lessen.

"He'll get over it," He leaned forward and pressed a small kiss to her forehead, "I did." he added with a wink as he pulled back from her and she laughed, once more slapping him and rolling her eyes.

"The less said about that the better."

She spun on her heel to return to finish her notes and caught sight of Damon standing at the end of the ward. His eyes widened in surprise as she saw him and for a moment he wondered whether he should pretend he was doing something else; however he met her stare and folded his arms across his chest. She knew she shouldn't feel guilty; she had not being doing anything wrong. Technically, she should not have spent so long talking to an old friend when she had so much work to do, but in terms of her and Damon she had nothing to feel guilty for. Yet as he slowly approached her she couldn't deny that the feeling in the pit of her stomach was definitely feeling a lot like guilt. She felt guilty that he was clearly upset with her and he had seen her exchange with Jamie without letting her explain their relationship.

"Dr Gilbert," he greeted her tersely, letting his eyes travel over the figure of the man stood next to her.

He immediately recognised him from the picture on her wall, just a friend from college, she had told him. The image of her sat perched on his shoulders and her wide smile passed before his eyes and he had to remind himself that he was at work, and there were certain ways he had to behave.

"Can I help you?" he asked the tall man, whose smirk hadn't shifted from his face since he had approached the pair.

"I am _so _sorry, Dr Salvatore," Jamie said sincerely, however years of friendship told Elena that he was being anything but sincere. He was laughing at Damon. It was a game they used to play during college, whenever they were in trouble they would offer up the most dramatic and sarcastic apology they could in hopes that the other one would crack and get themselves into more trouble by laughing. It wasn't working this time, she wasn't going to take his side as he stood and mocked Damon without him even knowing. She shot him a warning look but he only took this as encouragement and continued, "I was distracting your intern, she really is a testament to your excellent teaching skills, but I was actually looking for you."

Elena threw him a frown and mouthed 'what?' behind Damon's back at him.

"And you are?" asked Damon rudely.

"Jamie Matthews," He extended his hand but Damon simply glanced down at it, his arms remaining firmly folded across his broad chest. Jamie cleared his throat awkwardly and dropped his hand back down to his side, "I'm a rep for Pfizer, I've heard a lot about you and-"

"Oh so you're the one who just convinced our chief of medicine to spend millions of dollars on placebos?" exclaimed Damon sarcastically.

Elena winced, the waves of testosterone practically visible as the two males stared each other down.

"I'd say that our strenuous clinical trials have shown that they're much more than a placebo..." Jamie began confidently.

"Yeah, well, excuse me if I hold off on nominating you for a Nobel Prize."

Jamie glanced over Damon's shoulders and raised his eyebrows in amusement at Elena. She groaned; he could not have chosen a worse moment to do it and Damon whipped his own head round to stare at her in amazement.

"Don't you have some work to be doing, Dr Gilbert?" he bit out and Elena glared at him in confusion. He couldn't really be annoyed at her, could he? She'd done nothing wrong!

"Yeah...sure." she mumbled before gathering her notes and offering a small smile to Jamie and heading into a back office.

"I'll call you about tonight, Elena!" called Jamie after her, across the ward. She ignored him and grimaced, not needing to turn around to know he would have a victorious grin plastered across his face and that Damon's expression would be thunderous.

* * *

><p>Elena stabbed at the lacklustre lettuce leaf in her lunch box and raised it to her mouth. She swallowed it down, barely even tasting it. Her eyes drifted across to the other side of the canteen where Damon was sitting eating his lunch with Alaric. She gazed longingly at the back of his head and jolted when the arm that she had propped her chin onto was shoved.<p>

"What?" she cried out, looking across to Bonnie who was sat next to her.

"I _said_," she repeated with a sigh, "Jamie mentioned a get together at Matt's. Are you going?"

Elena raised an eyebrow sarcastically and shot Bonnie a knowing look, silently dismissing her question. She glanced down the other end of the long table that the interns were all sitting at, her eyes met Matt's momentarily before he lowered his back to his food, ignoring whatever Jamie was saying next to him.

It had been weeks since the two had spoken and Elena was fully beginning to understand how much she had taken his presence in her life for granted. She realised how much she relied on him to always be there with a shoulder to cry on or arms to hold her up.

"Come on, Elena," urged Bonnie, "this could be the perfect opportunity to speak to him."

"I think he's made it perfectly clear he doesn't want to listen to anything I have to say. I can't give him what he wants, Bonnie," She sighed and solemnly shook her head. "And I don't know how to make it right."

Bonnie smiled sadly at her and rubbed her arm consolingly.

"Please come tonight, 'Lena, I will personally lock you two in a room if that's what it takes." Elena smiled and blew out a laugh. Movement from across the canteen caught her eye and she saw Damon stand up and bid goodbye to Alaric. His eyes flicked across to her imperceptibly, no one else would have caught it unless they were looking for it. Elena cast a furtive glance around for Katherine and once she had established that she was nowhere to be seen she pushed herself to her feet.

"I just forgot," she said quickly as Bonnie frowned at her movement, "I have to finish some notes before this afternoon or Damon's going to kill me."

She scurried away before Bonnie could say anything.

There was no sign of Damon as she casually strolled along the corridor back in the direction of her ward. She had not seen Damon come this way but without the talent of telepathy she had to guess that this was the direction he would have headed. She could see the ward doors up ahead and immediately a sinking feeling of disappointment settled into the pit of her stomach, maybe she had read the signal wrong and he really had just been heading back to the ward early. Suddenly a hand latched onto her arm from nowhere and she suppressed a squeal as she was pulled into a dark room and her chest collided against someone else's.

"Hi," whispered Damon seductively.

Elena giggled nervously, desperately trying to slow her breathing down. "You scared the life out of me!"

Even through the darkness she could make out his childish grin and she lightly smacked his chest.

"Just wanted to get your heart racing." he quipped before pulling her towards him and lowering his lips to hers. She groaned and gave herself over to his passionate kiss, letting him completely take the lead.

"Mission accomplished." she mumbled against his lips and he chuckled. She felt the sound vibrate through his chest and smiled into the kiss.

Elena wasn't sure what thing she noticed first, the door being flung open, the harsh lights from the corridor on her eyes, or the gasp that came from Alaric Saltzman's lips as he discovered the pair.

"This is a little tacky, don't you think?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest like a teacher about to hand out a detention.

Damon awkwardly cleared his throat but didn't remove his arms from around Elena's waist.

"Ric, I..." choked Elena, "don't tell Jenna." she jumbled out quickly, that being the first thought that came to her mind.

Damon laughed at her nerves before the laugh turned into a sputter.

"Oh, so now you're ashamed of me?" he joked, stepping from Elena and raising his eyebrows.

She buried her head into her hands, groaning and shaking her brown hair from side to side.

"Don't worry," reassured Alaric tiredly, "I'm not about to go tittle-tattling on either of you. But please, if not for the sake of my eyes, for the sanitation of this hospital, find somewhere else to...canoodle."

Damon laughed loudly, "Canoodle?" He stepped out of the cupboard and clapped Ric on the shoulder. "I feel like I just stepped into a 1950's movie. Do you wanna talk to me about going steady, Ric?"

Ric shoved his hand away and rolled his eyes before walking away, once more leaving the pair alone. Damon turned back to Elena who had remained rooted to the spot in the cupboard.

"Now where were we?" He stepped back into the cupboard but Elena placed two hands on his chest and leaned away from him.

"I think we've had enough excitement for today, don't you?" she asked quietly.  
>Damon huffed like a petulant child, Elena was surprised that he didn't stomp his foot also.<p>

"Fine." he ground out impatiently, "but you're coming round to my house tonight, right?"

She sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair. She had always been someone who had lambasted friends who immediately ditched their friends once they had a boyfriend, and she wasn't even sure what she and Damon were at this point. Her mind made up, she shook her head.

"Sorry, no." She immediately felt guilty as his face dropped. "I have plans with the other interns."

"You mean plans with your friend Jamie." he said resentfully.

"Jamie will be there, yes," she said hesitantly, "but so will lots of other people." She paused and raised an eyebrow at his bitter expression. "Does Jamie bother you?" she inquired.

Damon scoffed defensively, subconsciously puffing his chest out, causing Elena to smirk knowingly.

"I'm not bothered by some idiot who couldn't be a proper doctor so he decided to sell plastic pills to the real life savers."

Elena hissed dramatically, "Down boy!"

She patted Damon's chest patronizingly and smirked as he let out a gasp of air as she winded him.

"I'm serious, Elena, I'm not bothered by him."

"Well that's good," she answered. Considering the topic over she turned to leave the corridor and head back to the ward, aware that soon the rest of the staff would be headed this way.

"I just..." he started, and she paused and turned back to him. His face was pensive. "I just don't like the way he looks at you.

"The way he looks at me?" she inquired, trying not to mock him when he looked so serious.

"Yeah, like you're his or something."

For a second Elena was struck by how much Katherine had broken him. She had her issues, her insecurities and her odd idiosyncrasies but he was more damaged than she realised sometimes.

She took a deep breath and decided, then and there, that she would never be Katherine. She didn't believe she had it in her to be truly deceitful; she couldn't even convince Damon that she wasn't interested in him, but she would strive to never leave him in the dark over anything.

"Well I was...once." she answered simply. His eyes widened and she could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.

"But you said..." He stumbled over his words, slowly becoming a mess in front of her all over again.

"That he was a friend from college and he was. But he was also my first college boyfriend."

"And you're telling me this because...?" He scratched his head and ran a hand through his hair, trying to stop himself from letting the situation escalate. "Do you _want_ me to be bothered by him?" The thought suddenly dawned upon him.

"Why would I _want_ you to be bothered by him?" she asked defensively.

He shrugged, also immediately becoming more defensive. "I don't know, you just seemed incredibly...tactile with him. This wouldn't be the first time you used a guy to try and piss me off."

"Are you being serious right now!" she demanded, struggling to control her temper.

"I just don't like the guy, that's all." he spat out finally.

"So you _are_ bothered by him?"

"What does it matter whether I'm bothered by him or not?" He raised his voice, throwing his arm out wide in frustration.

"Because you're my boyf-" She clamped a hand to her mouth, regretting her words as his eyes widened.

"Your what?" he asked quietly. She shook her hand dismissively and waved a hand as if to end the conversation. "No, go on Elena." His eyes began to twinkle again mischievously.

"It was just a slip of the tongue." Her voice now barely a whisper as she awkwardly diverted her eyes from his. She missed the grin that flashed across his face as he took her arms between his hands.

"Were you going to say that I was your boyfriend, Elena?" She rolled her eyes as she realised he was playing with her once more. "Because I can wholeheartedly understand why you would want that."

"Can you please not make this into a joke?" She narrowed her eyes and pulled her arms out of his grasp, crossing them over her chest.

"Would it help if I said sorry first?" he pressed, lowering his head so he could peer into her eyes, smiling persuasively at her.

She grunted her approval and he grinned.

"Elena," he began, pulling her hands towards him again and brushing his lips across her knuckles, "I'm sorry that I got jealous of your friend Jamie. I was just being a stupid, overprotective...boyfriend." He drew out the last word and raised his eyebrows knowingly at her.

"Really?" she squeaked and he smiled at how adorable she sounded.

"Really." he quickly pecked her on her forehead.

"So, are any of your other male friends in love with you?" he asked playfully as they headed back to the ward.

She tapped her chin "None that I can think of right now." She shrugged and laughed as they opened the double doors and returned to normalcy for the rest of the afternoon.

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><p><em>Please review and let me know what you think :) xxxx<em>


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N- Hi again! Firstly I want to say a huge thank you again for all your wonderful reviews, I continue to be blown away by your support, especially my updating has fallen a bit by the way-side of late. I finish my degree in 2 weeks and I finish my final placement tomorrow so hopefully things might start picking up. I'm also in the process of drafting a new story which I'll give a brief summary of at the end of this chapter as I'd like to gauge people's interest in it. _

_This chapter is a bit short and a bit of a filler, I know, but it was something that needed to be done for the story to move forward. That being said, this story is drawing to a close fairly soon.  
><em>

_Thanks, as always, to my wonderful beta!  
><em>

_Enjoy, and please review! xxx  
><em>

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><p><strong>Step one; you say we need to talk<br>**

**He walks, you say sit down it's just a talk  
><strong>

Elena breathed deeply as she walked up the gravel path that led to Matt's apartment block. A cool breeze whipped along the street and blew her hair across her face causing her to shiver. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly and glanced across to Bonnie who was walking in step with her.

"I really don't think this is a good idea."

They had reached the door and she glanced at the familiar wall of grey buttons, her eyes immediately falling on Matt's, his scrawled handwriting stating '', setting her heart racing. Everything had been so blissfully perfect the last few days and she was possibly about to ruin it all again. Speaking to one of her best friends should not set these feelings of anxiety inside her, she realized.

However, she also had come to realize that declarations of love weren't usually announced between best friends either, except maybe in movies.

"Look," Bonnie wrapped a protective and reassuring arm around her middle. "we'll go in there. If I know Jamie, which I do, he will have already got Matt so drunk that he probably won't even remember you had a fight-"

"We didn't have a fight Bonnie he-"

"Ok, ok," She raised her hands defensively. "What I'm saying is that Jamie visiting will have put him in a good mood, this is the perfect opportunity to make things right with him. And that's what you want, isn't it? To make things right?"

"Of course!" declared Elena, surprised that Bonnie would even consider that she didn't.

"It's just that you've been so caught up in your friendship with Damon that it hasn't really left time for Matt...or me." she added quietly.

Elena immediately felt a stab of guilt shoot through her. Is that what she had really been like? Was she so wrapped up in Damon that she had been neglecting her friends? She turned to face Bonnie fully, her already heightened emotions tipping her over the edge and causing tears to prick behind her eyes.

"God, I'm so sorry, Bonnie, I never even asked how your trip went or about you and Jer. I just...I just..." She took a deep, heaving breath and tried to calm down. She was quickly becoming an emotional wreck before the real hardship of the night had even begun.

Bonnie chuckled lightly, her eyes twinkling sympathetically "Elena, it's fine. Yeah, I don't see you as much as I'd like to but you're busy and I get it, I really do."

"You do?" she pressed pathetically, sniffing loudly.

"Yeah, of course I do. I'm your best friend; you can't hide these things from me even if you wanted to. You're in love with him, it's obvious. And it's sweet," she continued, her voice sounding less romantic and more serious now, "I just hope that you know what you're doing."

For a second Elena considered denying it. She considered pretending that she was wildly confused by her best friend's assumptions. But she hadn't told anyone, the only other person who knew was Ric, and she wasn't about to have a discussion with her aunt's boyfriend about her love life; she was certain he heard enough about it from Damon.

She blinked away her emerging tears and smiled, nodding at her friend in confirmation. Bonnie understood that now wasn't the time to talk about it, but there would be a time and that was all that mattered to her.

"Now come on," Bonnie pressed the buzzer for Matt's flat. "I think we could both use a drink."

They were buzzed into the flat almost automatically, Elena breathing a sigh of relief that Matt did not answer the door. The person who did answer the door however, was an incredibly drunk Jamie.

* * *

><p>"Well if it isn't my two favourite girls!" he shouted loudly, splaying his arms open wide and enveloping them both in a bear hug and slopping his beer down Elena's back. She sharply pulled out of his grasp and wiped a hand across her spine, shaking the dripping stickiness onto the floor.<p>

"Thanks, Jamie," she said, shaking her head at him as a childish grin slipped across his face.

"Sorry E, I'll get you a drink to make up for it." He raced away before she could protest and left the pair to make their way into the flat.

Matt lived in a modest, new apartment just outside of town. It was mostly open plan with a single bedroom and bathroom off one corridor. The kitchen and living area were rammed with medical interns and other familiar faces, and a stereo in the corner was hammering out loud music. Elena's eyes widened as she took in the scene before her, struggling to remind herself that she had work the very next day.

She spotted Matt across the room, clutching a beer bottle and deep in discussion with Tyler. She glanced across at Bonnie who jerked her head in Matt's direction and Elena nodded firmly, pushing her way through the crowd and towards him.

"Hey!" she greeted him enthusiastically, "great party!" He and Tyler dropped silent instantaneously as she entered.

Another development in her frosty relationship with Matt was that Tyler seemed to drop her judgmental glares every time she neared their vicinity. The pair remained silent and Elena cleared her throat, awkwardly glancing around the room as a palpable awkwardness fell upon the trio.

"There she is!" Jamie arrived by her side and flung an arm around her shoulder, pushing a cold bottle of beer into her hand. She took a lengthy swig from it to break up the tension that had been encroaching on her.

"Jesus..." muttered Jamie, "who died?" He glanced between the trio's faces frowning.

Matt suddenly removed himself from the group and, without a word, stormed off. Elena sighed and let her eyelids drift closed for a second.

"Matty!" cried Jamie drunkenly, sighing in frustration and taking a step to follow him. Elena's eyes snapped open and she latched onto his arm, pulling him back.

"Don't." She told him. "I'll go." She shoved her beer back into his hand and hurried after Matt. She caught up with him just before he entered into his bedroom. "Is this really how it's going to be now?" she exclaimed, causing him to whirl around, a malicious expression on his face that she had never seen before.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said sarcastically, "did I hurt your feelings?" She scoffed and shook her head tiredly, so fed up of the entire situation that she was past walking on eggshells around him.

"Grow up, Matt." she snapped.

"Why? So I can be more like your mature friend Damon?" he asked snidely, his lips curling around Damon's name spitefully.

"He has nothing to do with this." she declared, more than anything not wanting to bring Damon into this conversation. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice, feeling that the discussion was going down a road that she didn't want it to. "You're my best friend, Matt," she began, trying to level with him, "and this," She gestured between them. "is killing me. I don't know what you want me to say to make it better."

"There's absolutely nothing you could say, Elena." he replied, his voice calm and composed. He ran a shaky hand through his hair, betraying his cool exterior. "I can't do this here." he said quietly before opening the door to his room, she felt a flicker of hope ignite in her heart as he left the door ajar for her.

She entered the room and pressed her back against the door, pushing it closed. He settled himself on the edge of his bed and hung his head in his hands.

"Jamie gave me a job." he mumbled and for a second she hadn't heard what he said. She slowly shook her head, that wasn't he had said, it couldn't be.

"What?" she breathed out.

"Jamie gave me a job. I'm leaving," he repeated, keeping his eyes on the ground, knowing that if he saw her tear filled eyes then he would break.

"Matt...you can't." She bit down on her lip and blinked away the tears. She didn't come here to cry. "You can't just run away from this, we have to talk about this." she urged.

"Talk about what, Elena!" he sprang to his feet and took a step towards her. "How I can't bear the thought of going to work every single day because I'll have to see your face? Or even worse, have to watch you laugh and flirt with him like he hung the frickin moon!"

"I never wanted you to hate me." she whispered, lowering her head and wringing her hands together.

"I could never hate you, Elena," he replied hopelessly, "and that's the problem."

She raised her head to meet his eyes and offered him a sad smile.

"Do you think it will make you happy?" she asked.

"Yeah...I do." he replied, returning her smile. Their voices had dropped now and a calm had settled between them.

"Let's face it; I'm not a great doctor. I'm fairly sure the only reason Dr Salvatore even remotely tolerates me is because he knows how much it would piss you off if he got rid of me."

She opened her mouth to protest but he raised an eyebrow and shot her a knowing look. She shut her mouth and nodded lightly.

He shoved his hands into his pockets, rounding his shoulders and slouching down, the tension falling off his back. "I mean, travelling around the country with Jamie, making tons of money...there are worse things."

"I'll..." She slid her back down the door and sat on the floor, her legs stretching out in front of her. Matt came and sat next to her. "I'll miss you." she said quietly, letting her head drop onto his shoulders.

He reached a hand around and ran his fingers through her long hair.

"I'll miss you too." he replied, lazily stroking his fingers down her arm. "But I think that a bit of distance is what I need."

He felt her nod against his shoulder and he moved his arm, wrapping it around her and drawing her into a hug. For a second she let herself believe that everything was normal, that she was just back in college after having a drunken fallout over nothing. There wasn't any hospital, no Katherine, no stress...no Damon.

Whatever regretful direction her life had taken in the last few months she could never regret meeting Damon. He was the diamond among the giant heap of rough that her life had seemed to descend into. Life was supposed to fall into place after college, that's what everyone had said. She had believed that becoming a doctor would bestow her with some kind of sacred wisdom, she would instantly become more responsible and more grown up. But it hadn't worked out like that. She was still experiencing crises of her confidence; her best friend was moving across the country because he couldn't stand to be around her, and she had entered into a secret relationship with her superior. Life was more complicated now than it had ever been.

She sighed and turned her face to rest her forehead against his shoulder, she peered up at him from underneath her long lashes and smiled sadly.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. He sniffed amusedly before ruffling her hair between his large fingers.

"It's not your fault, Elena. I never really blamed you I just- I felt like such an idiot after blabbing it out that night that I just couldn't face you. I was drunk and Tyler was egging me on and it just all came out...I never meant to make you uncomfortable or for this to come between us."

"Friends?" she asked quietly, lifting her head so she could look him in the eye.

He smiled, the corners of his mouth lifting up towards his eyes before his lips split open into a genuine smile.

"Of course," he replied, "you're kind of hard to shake Gilbert."

* * *

><p>Elena pushed the glass French windows to the side as she stepped out into the cool night air on the balcony. She had spied Jamie slipping away from the party and followed him after she finished speaking to Matt. The pair had sat and talked quietly for a little while, repairing old wounds and making their peace before Matt left. They both knew that things were far from normal and possibly never would be normal again between them but Elena had a renewed sense of hope about her and Matt's friendship.<p>

"Not like you to avoid a party." she said, taking a step towards Jamie who was leaning against the railings, his hands propped up on the bars and a beer bottle dangling between his outstretched fingers. He didn't turn around to face her as she settled herself next to him, mirroring his position before leaning over to take his bottle from between his fingers. She took a small sip before she passed it back to him without a word.

"Did you speak to Matt?" he finally asked after a few minutes of companionable silence.

"Yeah, I did." she replied, glancing across at him to view his profile as he stared out across the dimly lit streets below. She could hear the gentle pounding of the music inside and feel the small vibrations creeping across the decking under her feet.

"Have you come to yell at me?" he chuckled, raising his eyebrows expectantly at her. She sniggered and shook her head, accepting the bottle as he passed it across to her once more. She swilled the contents before once again taking a sip and offering it back to him.

"Do you _want_me to yell at you?" she asked light heartedly.

He laughed, throwing his head backwards and shaking it from side to side.

"Well, you know what they say about going to bed angry...you should always stay up and fight." He leaned across and bumped her shoulder with the side of his own arm earning a disapproving look.

"Well, since you and I won't be going to bed together that's not really a problem." she countered haughtily.

"Mores the pity," He shrugged, throwing her a wink. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

She snorted and took her phone from out of her back pocket, checking it and seeing the lack of messages before placing it back into her jeans.

"So who is he?" asked Jamie suddenly. She frowned, genuinely confused by his question.

"Who's who?" she asked, her forehead wrinkling.

"The guy that you're obsessing over."

She laughed and opened her mouth to protest but Jamie raised a hand to stop her. "You haven't stopped checking your phone all night, which means that he's not here, you haven't flirted with me once since I arrived - something I know you can't help - and you've got that look in your eyes."

She placed a hand on her hip, jutting it out to the side and fixing him with a judgemental look.

"What look?" she demanded.

"Your eyes glaze over when someone's talking to you; it's like you're here but your mind's somewhere else...with someone else."

"That's ridiculous!" She scoffed, shaking her head.

"What's ridiculous is that you think after all these years I can't read you like an open book." he retorted.

She sputtered for a few seconds, her hand itching to come up and smack the all-knowing look off his face as he regarded her with amusement.

"My love life is irrelevant," she spat out finally, "I can't believe you're going to take Matt halfway across the country with you. He's not like you Jamie."

"Oh? So who is he like? _You_?" They sounded like a pair of bickering parents, at war over custody of their child. "Little miss perfect?" he pressed and she laughed sarcastically.

"Is that what you think I'm like?" She scoffed. "You clearly don't know me as well as you think you do. He needs a base Jamie; he can't just fly around the country without a care like you. He has friends here-"

"Friends like you?" he cut her off, widening his eyes in amusement and surprise. He placed his hands either side of head and slid them down to her shoulders, lowering himself down to her level. "I mean this in the nicest way possible Elena," he began slowly, "but you have no idea how excruciatingly painful it can be to be in love with you." There was no malice behind his voice, and she swallowed heavily. "It's not fun and trust me, the best cure for it is to remove yourself from the situation in the hope that it...fades." He didn't say go away, it never went away.

"You make it sound like a disease." she whispered.

He shrugged and dipped his head to the side and tears welled up behind her eyes at the insinuation of the action. That was how he saw it, being in love with her was like a disease to him...to Matt.

"Think of me as Elena rehab." he joked, attempting to inject some levity into the increasingly serious conversation. "Its best he go in voluntarily rather than kicking and screaming."

"You're an ass." she ground out, slapping him on the shoulder and shoving him away from her. But he didn't miss the way her lips twitched up at the corners.

"Once upon a time you couldn't get enough of this." He winked and jumped backwards to avoid the punch that she swung in his direction.

"Can we stop with the references to our sordid past please?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips and trying to look as serious as possible.

"Why?" he pried. "Is your boyfriend gunna come and beat me up?" He laughed loudly as she swung for him again, her cheeks turning red. "Ooh I've hit a nerve I see. So come on Elena. 'Fess up, who is he?"

"Stop it, Jamie." she said, her face dropping seriously.

He threw an arm around her shoulders roughly and ruffled her hair with his free hand.

"Ahh E, you know I'm only joking, if you've got some secret lover then that's your prerogative. I just hope whoever he is he treats you right."

He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and ruffled her hair once more. She smiled lazily, enjoying the easy transition that they always went through when they were together. Friends, ex-lovers and siblings all rolled into one.

"When do you leave?" she asked, pulling backwards from him and returning to her post, leaning against the balcony railings. He shrugged and ran a hand through his already messy hair, leaving it in a perfectly dishevelled state that no girl could ever achieve.

"As soon as possible really. Matt already handed in his resignation, so we'll probably hit the road tomorrow."

She nodded solemnly before sighing heavily, letting the air puff her cheeks as she exhaled.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye for now then." she said, turning to face him. "Don't be a stranger, OK?"

"Couldn't even if I wanted to," he replied, pulling her in for a tight hug, wrapping his arms around her shoulders while she secured hers around his waist. She finally pulled away from him and headed back towards the French windows.

"Hey, Jamie?" she called over her shoulder. He turned around to face her, his head crooked to the side. "Look after him, OK?"

He nodded once and she smiled slightly before walking away from him.

* * *

><p><em>So there it is, poor Elena has lost her friend. Also, let me know what you guys thought of the finale? (Keep the cursing to a minimum people!) I am still in two minds about it, I really enjoyed it but it was also heartbreaking. That being said I'm still super excited for season 4 already! <em>

_I'm in the process of writing a new story as I said. First of all I'd recommend that you go and watch either the trailer for or, even better, the entire film Morning Glory, with Rachel McAdams as this is where my inspiration came from (and its a brilliant film!)_

_Elena Gilbert is down on her luck, recently fired from her job as assistant producer to one of Mystic Fall's most popular morning breakfast shows she jumps at the chance to work on a little known show, Rise and Shine. To boost ratings and turn the show around she must enlist the star power of reporting's infamous bad boy, Damon Salvatore._

_Let me know what you guys think and pleaseeee review this chapter :)_

_Much love_

_xxxxx_


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N- Oh, hi there! So I could apologise until the cows come home for not updating sooner but I just finished uni and if you live in England you'll know that we were (past tense) blessed with the most amazing weather so I didn't really spend much time inside writing. And then I had a bit of writer's block but here it is! It's a little short and I really hate posting short chapters but I just wanted to get it up and posted._

_Thank you to my lovely beta :)_

_Listening for this chapter: Ben Howard: Only Love_

_ Sara Bareilles: Lie to me_

_Happy reading and please review :)_

* * *

><p>Elena inhaled the cool evening's air as she made her way up her drive and into her house. The events of the evening and the past few days had finally taken their toll on her and she clambered her stairs wearily, her legs aching. She slipped her high heeled shoes off her feet and clutched them in her hand as she pushed the door of her bedroom open.<p>

"You should really be more inventive with where you hide your spare key." She squealed as a smug voice carried itself across the room. Her heart started to beat rapidly as she recognised the confident lilt of Damon's voice. She flicked her light on to see him sprawled across her bed.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she gasped, throwing her shoes into the corner of her room and placing her hands on her hips, trying to her hide her excitement at seeing him.

"Just a bit of gentle tachycardia," he teased, swinging his feet off the bed lazily and standing up. He walked towards her, peeled her hands off her hips, and pressed them to his chest before kissing each of her palms in turn. "Did you have a good night?" he asked, stepping backwards and pulling them both in the direction of her bed.

"Y-yeah..." she breathed, struggling to coherently form a sentence whilst in the midst of a full blown Damon Salvatore seduction.

"Did you miss me?" he asked quietly. The seductive timbre of his voice did well to hide the vulnerability that lay behind the question.

"Desperately," she answered, grinning at him and fluttering her eyelashes. He shot her a brilliant smile before tugging her on top of him and flopping down onto the bed. He ran his hands through her hair as she settled onto his chest and wrapped her leg across his.

"How come you're here?" she asked gently, although she definitely wasn't complaining. She felt him still beneath her; his hands stopped their soothing combing of her hair and settled softly on her head. "Damon?" she asked, when he failed to reply. She turned her head to look up at him and he had gone slightly pale.

"I-" he began anxiously, swallowing slowly and trying to pry his nervous tongue free, "I had something to tell you." His nervousness immediately transferred to hers and she felt her heart quicken for a completely different reason. Poignant silence descended upon them as he struggled to form words, wishing he didn't have to tell her this, nervous at what her reaction would be.

"Stefan's back." he said at last.  
>After a few seconds of contemplation she brushed her hair out of her face,<p>

"Why?" she breathed, the single word conveying her utter confusion.

He breathed a silent sigh of relief, having convinced himself that upon hearing of his brother's return she would immediately see the error of her ways and return to him. Or that she would put paid to what they had here out of some misplaced loyalty to his brother's feelings.

"I don't know." he answered. "He said he was just visiting, back for the weekend or something..." he trailed off.

"Did you...I mean did he...?"

"Did I tell him about us? No." he said, thinking that it had probably not been his to tell; although he would have delighted in telling his brother that the girl he so foolishly cast to the side was now his and only his. However, beneath his superficial confidence of Elena's feelings towards him was layer upon layer of nervous neuroses. Would Elena tire of having to keep their relationship secret and yearn for the simpler comforts that Stefan would provide? Was she just substituting him for his brother and now that the prodigal son had returned would he himself be cast to the side?

"Can you trust him?" Her question snapped him out of his self-induced downward spiral and he frowned.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Stefan," she answered, pushing herself up on her elbows and sitting cross legged facing him. "If we tell him about us can we trust him not to tell anyone else?"

Damon nodded immediately, "Yeah, me and Stefan have our differences, but he's my brother. We can trust him."

She nodded pensively, her face twisting in thought. He watched her and wished he could figure out what was going on in that beautiful head of hers, regardless of the advances they had made in their relationship she still remained an enigma to him at times.

"We should tell him." she finally said; nodding enthusiastically as if she'd just suggested that they should go and get ice cream.

She edged herself forwards so she was once again laid across him, settling her body between his legs and propping her chin up onto his chest. He smiled lazily at her and smoothed strands of her back off her face before planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Your exams are coming up." he said softly, looking to change the subject. He smirked as her beautiful face was immediately marred by a frown.

"Ugh, don't remind me," she groaned, burying her face into his chest as if she could bury her head in the sand and her exams would just pass her by.

"What are you worried about?" he asked light-heartedly. "You're the best intern at that place, you'll ace them. Plus," he raised her chin up to face him, cocking an eyebrow mischievously, "yours truly is writing the papers this year so if you ask really nicely I might be able to lend a helping hand. I'm not above accepting sexual favours in exchange for good grades."

She scoffed and pushed herself off him looking more than a bit disgruntled.

"That's not funny." she snapped and his face contorted in confusion. "You know how important it is to me that I don't get preferential treatment. Think about how mean you were to me when you thought I only got a job here because of my Dad. If I let you help me with my exam...it'd be cheating." she rambled.

"Elena," he raised his hands, his palms facing her in a gesture of surrender, "I was kidding, I know that you're far too noble to accept my help. (It was a joke.

"Not a very funny one," she mumbled, lowering her head and plucking at her duvet.

"Elena, sweetie, I'm sorry." He crawled towards her and took her face between his hands. "People just expect me to be hilarious all the time; it's exhausting. You've got to expect a few howlers every now and then."

She fought back a smile and instead pushed him away half heartedly, rolling her eyes.

He pulled her towards him, throwing her onto her side on the mattress until they lay facing each other. He stroked errant hairs out of her face and smoothed her long locks between his fingers, smiling to himself.

"What?" she asked, observing him quietly.

He shook his head absently and his mouth spread upwards into a crooked smile.

"Come away with me this weekend." he said smoothly. She answered with a frown but he cut her off before she could give him her rejection. "I just think it would be nice if we could go somewhere where we can be together that isn't your place, mine or the odd hospital supply closet."

He smirked and a shy smile and accompanying blush spread across her face.

"What about Stefan?"

He shrugged and turned his lips up noncommittally, "Stefan's a big boy he can take care of himself. Let me take you away."

He fixed her with his intense stare and she knew immediately that saying no wasn't really an option. Vaguely she wondered if anyone had ever said no to those gorgeous eyes; she observed his cocky smile and already had her answer.

* * *

><p>"You can't be serious." Her hands immediately found their way to her hips and she raised her eyebrows at him in disbelief as he lowered the outstretched helmet he had offered her, his grin slipping. "I'm not getting on that death trap." she spat, petulantly flicking her straight hair over her shoulder and shaking her head.<p>

He stepped away from the gleaming motorbike that was propped up on its kick-stand with a matte black helmet perched on the back.

"Scared?" he teased, his wicked grin and dancing brows taunting her.

"Absolutely!" she exclaimed. "I'd have to be mentally unhinged to not be scared of that thing. No, Damon, absolutely not. We can just take my car."

She turned to stalk back into the boarding house and heard him groan behind her before scurrying after her. He latched onto her wrist and twirled her around to face him. She was silently pleased to see the sparkle still in his eyes, worried that she had completely rained on his parade by refusing to get on his motorbike.

"Elena, come on. When have I ever put you in danger?" He bent his head so he could look into her eyes and smile encouragingly at her. His hands flew to stroke her cheek, his thumb lingering for a second across her lips and causing a burning redness to streak up her neck and onto her face. "Huh?" he asked quietly, leaning down and placing a slow kiss against her lips. She let herself lean into him for a second before groaning in frustration and lightly shoving him away.

"Nice try Salvatore, but it's not working." she snapped, taking another step towards the house.

"What's going on out here? Elena?" She tensed as she span around to see Stefan standing in the doorway, wearing a tight vest and low slung sweatpants. His hair was longer and he looked older, almost as if New York had already aged him.

"Stefan..." she breathed out nervously, running a hand through her hair. She glanced over her shoulder to where Damon had frozen, the helmet intended for her still in his hand and their weekend bag slung over his shoulder.

"What's going on?" he repeated, glancing between the incredibly guilty looking pair.

Elena swallowed heavily and took a deep breath. "I think we need to talk." she said slowly, trying to sound as calm as possible. Stefan's brow crinkled and he glanced across to his brother who offered him a consoling smile followed by a small nod. Stefan backed into the house to let Elena slip past him and Damon followed.

* * *

><p>The three settled in the living room, Elena and Damon seated at opposite ends of the couch and Stefan facing them in one of the large armchairs. Damon silently mused that it felt like an episode of intervention.<p>

"So, does someone wanna tell me what's going on?" asked Stefan, leaning back into the chair and folding his arms defensively. "Last time I checked you couldn't stand Damon." he said to Elena who grimaced and glanced across to Damon.

"Well," she nervously brushed her hair behind her ear, "a lot of things have changed since you left, Stefan."

"Meaning?" he demanded.

"Stefan stop being a dick and let her speak." snapped the elder Salvatore.

"Since when do you jump to her defence?"

"If you'd have actually spoken to her and listened to what she says you'd realise I've been jumping to her defence for a lot longer than you'd think." He mirrored his brother's posture, folding his arms aggressively.

"Damon." Elena reached out and laid a hand on his arm and he tensed under her touch. This was not going the way either of them had wanted and was already putting a huge dent in their romantic weekend away.

"What the hell is going on here?" growled Stefan, observing the silent exchange between the two and the way Elena had left her hand on his brother's arm. "Are you two sleeping together?"

Damon snorted loudly.

"There's not much sleeping involved."

"Damon!" Elena scolded through clenched teeth.

"We're...together, Stefan." she said finally, anxiously looking at her ex.

"Together?" he repeated slowly. "How long has this been going on?"

"A few weeks," answered Elena quietly, looking down at her feet and clicking the fingernails of her free hand together.

Stefan slumped forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands raking through his already messy hair. Elena watched him warily, unable to tell whether he was angry or upset...or both.

"I just don't get it," he said, his voice pained, "he was a complete dick to you, Elena. How can you have done a complete 360 in a matter of weeks? Do you even know what he's really like? 'Cause I do-"

"Stefan-"

"No! Hear me out, because I think you need to hear this. He is a womaniser, Elena; he'll tell you all the things you want to hear because it's what he's good at. I mean, he does it all day, lies to people to make them feel better about themselves and so he won't look bad-"

"Says the lawyer." muttered Damon bitterly; rolling his eyes and remaining oddly quiet throughout the whole exchange.

"And you!" Stefan rounded on his brother, jabbing his finger in his direction, "You're supposed to be my brother, how could you do this? I know we haven't always lived up to the usual brotherly code but this really takes the cake for the shittiest thing you've ever done to me." He finished his rant and dragged another hand through his hair, panting heavily.

Damon remained sitting quietly; he glanced down at his hands that were clasped together in his lap. Elena glanced across to him, reminded of their argument at the hospital, recognising the same quiet anger building in him. She knew now that this was how he responded to confrontation, cool and menacing.

"Alright," he said, easing himself out of his seat and rubbing his hands down his thighs, "I'm glad we all got to have this little therapy session, I don't know about you but I feel purged."

He smirked and reached down to the ground to pick their weekend bag off the floor and headed towards the door.

"Damon!" Stefan shouted after him.

"What, Stefan?" he snapped, swivelling on his heel and fixing his younger brother with a challenging glare. "Did I cut short your little speech? Sorry to disappoint you, baby bro, but I'm not on the witness stand so your closing statement's gunna have to wait until you find someone who gives a shit."

Elena gasped at the harshness behind his voice and realised that Stefan had pushed him too far this time. He always seemed to be pushed over the edge when it came to her.

"And in case you hadn't noticed," he continued, "there's no jury here, so Elena's either gunna have to take your word for it or mine. But since you're the one who walked out on her I'm gunna say the odds aren't in your favour."

"What, you think it makes you the big man because she ran to you? Do you know what that makes you?" scoffed Stefan. "It makes you the rebound guy, Damon. Congratulations," he said, patting Damon on the shoulder. "I guess you make a perfect pair now that I actually think about it; you're her rebound for me and she's your rebound for Katherine."

Elena rose to her feet, determined to put a stop to this, but before she could Damon had let the bag he was holding hit the floor and quicker than her eyes could follow had swung his fist into the side of Stefan's jaw.

"Damon!" she yelled, rushing towards the pair as Stefan doubled over and recoiled, clutching his jaw.

Damon shook his hand and clenched his fingers at the pain that shot through his knuckles. He looked down at where his brother was finally regaining his stance, still rubbing his jaw.

"I'm in love with her, _dick_," he spat, prepared to go for another round if Stefan continued, "And I don't need your permission or your approval, you lost those privileges when you walked out that door. Now I hope you're finished because brotherly code sure as hell won't stop me from kicking your sorry ass back to New York." He turned to Elena, and her eyes were watery. He held out his now injured hand. "Let's go, Elena."

She sniffed back her tears and took his hand, letting him pull her from the house and into the driveway once more. He pulled her to his chest, wrapping one arm around her waist and tangling the other in her hair.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." he murmured, places kisses onto her head. She shook her head into his chest and pulled her face backwards so she could look up at him.

"I never meant to come between you two." she said morosely. His lips slipped upwards slightly and he brushed his lips against her forehead.

"He'll get over it."

"What you said..." she pulled away from him and wrapped her arms around her middle, staring down at the ground, "Was it...I mean...in heat of the moment?"

He pressed his hands either side of her face and looked into her eyes.

"I'm in love with you, Elena." In spite of the scene she had just witnessed a grin broke across her face.

"Really?" she squeaked, desperately trying to keep her toothy grin to a minimum.

He smirked, coming around to stand behind her and wrapping his arms around her.

"Now get on the bike." he growled, pushing her towards it. She squealed in protest, trying to wriggle out of his grip but he lifted her with his arms wrapped tightly around her middle and plonked her onto the bike. She stilled in the seat and folded her arms across her chest as he brought her helmet down over her head and clicked the chin strap in place. He smirked and flicked her nose with his index finger.

"Adorable," he said, turning to pull his own helmet on and swinging his leg over the bike. "Hold on tight, OK?"

"Really, Damon? Hold on tight? Thanks, Captain Obvious," she spat, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him tightly, causing him to cough slightly.

"Easy on the ribs, Elena." he wheezed and she loosened her grip before he kicked the bike into action and revved it aggressively, speeding out of the Salvatore driveway.

* * *

><p><em>Funny story (well, depends what your definition of funny is, I guess cute would be more suitable), the part where he plants her onto the motorbike is actually inspired by inspired by a real moment between me and my boyfriend, who I had met that very same day. <em>

_So I started a new story, Rise and Shine, so please go and check that out. I'm in the process of writing the 2nd chapter._

_I also got a twitter for my profile, so here's another shameless plug. Please follow me: campfire_tales1_

_Review pleaseeee! Much love_

_xxxx_


	17. Chapter 17

_Oh, hi! So I'm hoping there are still people out there reading this, I understand that my absence has been a bit lengthy. Basically as I've said before I graduated from University and have been dossing around, I went on holiday last week and came back feeling so damn deflated like I have nothing to look forwards to and nothing to do. So I thought, right, writer's block be damned I'm getting this finished. _

_So enough of the sob story of the unemployed graduate, I'm sure no one cares. This chapter didn't go exactly as I'd planned, I wanted to wrap a few more things up in this...but my fellow writers know how it is right? You start writing and things just happen. So I have the beginnings of an epilogue written and there's possible 1-2 more chapters that will precede that. I'm already excited for you guys to read the epilogue though! Right! Enough babbling, here it is._

_Thank you to my lovely beta and pleaseeee review! Oh! And 500 reviews! Just...wow. Thank you._

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><p>Damon wrinkled his nose as the rays of sunlight streaming through the curtains that had been hastily pulled together last night warmed his face. He slowly woke up and very quickly became aware of the fact that Elena was not next to him. Stretching out an arm and rubbing the empty space she had occupied, he cracked an eye open, glancing around the room. Listening intently he deduced that she wasn't in the shower.<p>

He stretched and sat up, leisurely raising his arms above his head and arching his back. His eyes fell upon the gap in the curtains that revealed the stunning view that was directly opposite the large bed. He grinned like a child and hopped out of bed, his bare feet thudding across the wooden floors as he flung the curtains open and took in the view.

He had brought Elena to his family's lake house; it had not been used for a couple of years now, but besides a thin layer of dust everything was still in pristine condition. The memory of happy years spent here before his parents separated filled his mind as he gazed out across the majestic lake. There was the jetty where he had slipped and broken his ankle, the small rowing boat that he and Stefan would take out into the middle of the lake and shove each other in. His lips spread into a wide smile as he anticipated late night boat trips out on the lake with Elena and throwing her off the jetty whilst she screamed playfully.

The thought of Elena brought him back to the present, and he decided to locate her. Opening the bedroom door, he was immediately met with the faint smell of burning and he swiftly headed to the kitchen. Sure enough, he found her wafting smoke that was billowing from a pan of -well, he had no idea what it was meant to be- with a pair of oven gloves. She heard him enter and swirled around, looking unbelievably stunning in his t-shirt and not much else. There was a faint dusting of flour on her nose and her hair was piled on top of her head in a messy knot.

"I tried to make breakfast." She pouted, turning back to waft helplessly at the charcoaled remains in the pan. He chuckled, his heart warming at the sight of the effort she had put in for him. He eyed the steaming pot of coffee that sat on the side.

"Looks like you managed coffee." He smiled light heartedly at her, pouring himself a mug and raising it to his lips. He grimaced as it touched his tongue and spat it into the sink. "Ugh!"

"Oh God!" she cried, throwing the oven gloves onto the side in frustration. "I can't do anything right." Damon burst out laughing, bending double and clutching at his sides. He rushed over to her, holding her tightly in his arms and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Elena, I'm kidding. The coffee's fine." he chuckled.

"You asshole!" She shoved him, not with any real conviction, as he continued to hold onto her. He laughed again, releasing her but keeping an arm draped loosely over her shoulder.

"You are so sweet. But why don't you leave breakfast to me?" He guided her by the shoulders to one of the stools that surrounded the large, marble kitchen island.

She groaned and plonked herself onto one of the stools, watching him as he made his way around his kitchen. "I should have known that you'd take over, you wouldn't even let me make a sandwich." He smiled, remembering the exchange in his kitchen back at the boarding house. The atmosphere grew heavy as they both recalled what else had been said back then.

"I should have listened to you." she said finally, staring at her fingers in her lap, entwining them nervously.

"Hey." He appeared in front of her, lifting her chin up with a finger and smiling softly at her. "It's OK, I...I was jealous at the time that you liked her more than me; I had no idea she'd do something this crazy."

"What do you think she'll do now that Matt's left? She's not gunna leave us alone." she pressed. He shook his head and pressed a finger to her lips.

"Let's not worry about that right now." He returned back to his cooking, humming absentmindedly whilst she watched him.

"Where did you learn to cook?" she asked, tapping her foot against the leg of the stool and propping her head up on her hand. He continued to glide around the kitchen with an ease that she could only hope to emulate.

He swept towards her suddenly, grasping her by the waist and pulling her to her feet. She squealed and threw him a quizzical look as he positioned with her back to the countertop adjacent to the hob before tightening his hold on her and sitting her up onto the counter.

"Right...here." He grinned, gesturing with open arms to where she was sat.

"Right here?" she asked, and he nodded enthusiastically.

"Mom was always away at some medical conference or working overtime and my Father had no interest in bringing us here, and whenever he was around he would always be sulking anyway. So, my Grandparents would bring me and Stefan here. They're both from Italy; they had this great little place right on the edge of Lake Garda so they liked being here. It'd sell for an absolute fortune now but at the time it was this cosy, rustic Italian house where we had the best summers. Anyway, they used to bring us here when both our parents were busy and my Grandmother would sit me right where you are and teach me all her culinary secrets."

Elena beamed at him, wondering how she could fall anymore in love with this incredible man. She loved the way he lit up when he spoke of his family; although he liked to pretend that all the animosity between them had ruined any familial sentiments he held, she could hear in the way he spoke that his family was everything to him.

"Will you teach me?" She shot up straight, grinning eagerly.

He shook his head solemnly. "I'm afraid those are Salvatore secrets that I will take with me to the grave." He placed a flat palm against his heart and gazed wistfully into the distance before his composure was broken by the sound of Elena snorting.

"Whatever, I can probably learn the exact same things in a Jamie Oliver book." She immediately regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. He came towards her with a fierce look in his eye and she felt herself shuffle backwards on the counter as far as she could, cowering against the wall and raising her hands defensively. "Damon, no." she pleaded, shaking a finger at him.

He reached her as she let out another squeal before throwing her over his shoulder.

"Damon!" she screamed.

"That's it," he sighed in mock disappointment, "I didn't want it to come to this, Elena, but you've left me with no choice." He calmly turned the heat off on the food whilst still holding her over his shoulder and headed towards the door. "You're going in the lake."

"No, no, no!" she shouted, wriggling wildly. "Damon, no!" He kicked the back door open and strolled across the small back yard until it gave way to a wooden jetty. His bare feet slapped against the wooden planks and her heart jumped as she got a clear view of the water below her. "Damon, don't, it'll be freezing in there! I swear if you-"

Her words were cut off as he reached the end and without hesitation dropped her into the water, her screech echoing around the deserted lake and bouncing back to him several times as he bent over double in hysterics. She finally surfaced in a giant splutter of water, slapping her soaking hair away from her face and coughing.

"I can't believe you did that!" She was met with the sounds of his laughter as he wiped tears away from his eyes.

Suddenly her face was contorted with pain and she gave a desperate cry as she disappeared below the surface momentarily before re-surfacing, thrashing around frantically.

"Elena?" He took a few wary steps towards the edge as he watched her struggle. "Elena, what's going on?" he demanded firmly.

"Cramp!" she yelled, clutching at her leg and struggling to remain afloat. Panic ripped through him and he rushed to the edge of the jetty, crouching down and stretching out a hand.

"Swim to me and take my hand." he commanded, reaching out as far as he could, wanting to be on the jetty to pull her out into the dry.

She splashed desperately, making her way towards him, her head bobbing beneath the water several times. Her fingertips scraped his as she struggled to get purchase on his grip but he lunged forwards to hold onto her firmly. He immediately realized his mistake as her pain stricken face transformed into one of glee as she tugged forcefully on his hand and sent him tumbling into the freezing water.

Elena kicked backwards, clearing herself of the splash zone and the inevitable payback she would encounter when he surfaced.

Damon's head appeared above the water, sending spray everywhere as he sputtered helplessly, coughing and shaking his wet hair away from his face. His eyes narrowed as he spied Elena.

Elena's giggles rang out across the empty lake as his eyes focussed on her form, treading water a fair distance away from him.

"Oh, you're in for it now, Gilbert." He swam rapidly towards her and grinned as he heard her squeal and paddle away. Reaching her quicker than she anticipated, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her out of the water before sending her crashing back into it.

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><p>They played in the lake for another hour or so before they both became too cold and their stomachs began to rumble. Traipsing back into the house Damon finally made breakfast in just a pair of boxers; not bothering to dress after drying off whilst Elena appeared in another one of his t-shirts.<p>

That evening they lay together on one of the well worn leather couches, a blanket slung over their legs and a roaring fire crackling peacefully in the hearth. Elena sighed contentedly as she lazily drew patterns on Damon's bare chest, the fine hairs that grew there tickling the tips of her fingers.

"Can we just stay here forever, please?" she asked as her head flopped onto his chest and she rubbed her foot against his ankle. Damon chuckled, sending a deep vibration through his chest which she felt against her cheek.

"I wish we could," he said as his hand knotted into her mass of brown hair and massaged her scalp, causing her to groan in delight. "But I don't think the hospital would be too happy."

Elena snorted. "Because they absolutely couldn't cope without you, right?"

"You're damn right they couldn't!" he replied indignantly, tugging on her hair lightly to make her yelp and giggle at the same time. She buried her face further into his chest, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"I love you." she mumbled into his skin. He placed a delicate kiss on the top of her head before lying back and letting his eyes close and he held her tight.

"I love you too."

* * *

><p>"Wrong! Your patient just died." cried Caroline, drawing a finger across her throat and lolling her tongue out of her mouth dramatically. Elena groaned, dropping her head into her hands.<p>

Caroline, Bonnie and Elena were sitting in a deserted service corridor, perched on hospital beds with an array of medical textbooks surrounding them.

"So what was it?" asked Elena wearily.

"Kidney failure," replied Caroline.

"You didn't mention that in the medical history!" whined Elena.

"I'm 93 years old with advanced dementia and no identifiable next of kin, Elena," lectured the blonde, "I could have anything."

"Caroline, that is never going to come up in the exam, they're not that cruel." Bonnie stepped in; tensions were running high after several hours revision in which they'd discovered more of what they didn't know than what they did. "How about we go through blood gas technique and values?" she suggested, knowing it was something easy that would boost their confidence.

"Speaking of 'they'," Caroline chirped, ignoring Bonnie, "has your BFF given you any hints on questions?" Elena snuck a look at Bonnie who kept her mouth shut.

"No, Caroline, you know I would never abuse my friendship with him like that."

"Well, can you maybe abuse it on my behalf, please?" Elena rolled her eyes and glared across at Bonnie who smiled sympathetically. Caroline had been constantly pestering her to get Damon's help and her patience was wearing slightly thin.

"I'm gunna go get some coffee." Elena pushed herself to her feet and slipped her sneakers back on before heading down the long corridor back in the direction of the busy hospital. She knotted her fingers together and stretched her hands high above her head, bouncing on the balls of her toes.

"Hello, Elena." She dropped her hands back down to her side and swung around as she recognized the voice.

"Katherine," she greeted, her anxiety slipping into her voice.

"Working hard?" She smirked. "Or hardly working?"

Elena rolled her eyes, she didn't have the time or energy to put up with the woman's riddles right now. She had more immediately pressing and very real threats to her future as a doctor ahead.

"Look, Katherine, whatever you want I really don't have the time for it right now, so can you please go and bother someone else?" Katherine looked visibly shaken by her refusal to take her bait for a second before composing herself.

"I hardly think that's a way to speak to an attending, Dr Gilbert." she said formally. Elena sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger; as she felt a headache begin to settle in.

"Well, you're welcome to take it up with my attending, Dr Pierce." And at that she swivelled on her heel and began to walk away; aware that she had probably made a huge mistake.

Damon had once warned her to be careful around Katherine and God only knows the woman had given her enough reason to fear her herself. But with the ominous threat of the examinations looming she found it difficult to be too afraid of Katherine. After all, she could fail her exams and Katherine wouldn't have to try very hard to ruin her life then as she'd already be kicked out of the program.

"Oh, I intend to." Katherine responded loudly, her voice dipping low and seductively. Elena balled her fingers into a fist, her fingernails digging into her palm. _Don't turn around, do not turn around._

"Excuse me?" She slowly turned around, raising her eyebrows. _Walk away, Elena,_ she urged herself. _This is exactly what she wants._

"Oooh," Katherine chuckled devilishly, "have I struck a nerve?" Elena's jaw clenched and she swallowed back a retort.

"By all means, speak to Damon." She flicked her hand and shrugged her shoulders. "I couldn't care less, but you might wanna take a shower first though, try and get rid of that smell of desperation, you know?" With that she stormed away, Katherine was hugely mistaken if she thought she was going to just lie down and take her bitchiness anymore. She'd been head cheerleader for Christ sakes, she could go toe to toe with the best of them and Katherine was nothing more than a jealous child who wanted her toys back as soon as she'd thrown them out of the stroller.

* * *

><p>Ahead she spotted one of the many vending machines that dotted the hospital corridors and sped towards it. Letting out a heavy sigh she ran a hand through her hair and stared at the machine. She rubbed her eyes, studying for hours had certainly taken its toll on her and she suddenly realized how exhausted she was. So exhausted, it appeared as she jammed her hands into her pockets, that she had forgotten to bring any money with her. She groaned, leaning forwards and banging her head on the solid vending machine.<br>"Ah, finals week." a voice piped up from behind her. She turned around to see Alaric watching her, a wry smile on his face. He pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning on and walked towards her. "Yesterday one of my interns wished me a merry Christmas as he left for the night and another couldn't tell me how many lungs a human being had." Elena frowned, come to think about it, neither could she right now? Was it two, or just one big one?

Alaric reached into the pocket of his white coat and produced a handle of change and proceeded to feed it to the machine, pressing several buttons. A cup popped out and began to fill with a brown tar like substance that she presumed was coffee. She watched on in silence, too tired to formulate a conversation.

"I spoke to Damon earlier," Alaric said, taking the initiative to broach the silence. She nodded, not sure what she should say in response. The machine gurgled and suddenly what appeared to be milk dribbled into the cup. "He said you've been having a bit of trouble with Katherine."

Elena's brows raised and she gulped.

"Oh."

"He wouldn't tell me specifics but he seems worried about you."

"I'm fine." she replied upon instinct.

"Oh, I have no doubt about that." Alaric chuckled, he reached over to the vending machine and tugged the cup from it before handing it to her. She smiled as she took it from him, thinking that he had been getting one for himself.

"Thanks."

He nodded.

"However, I wouldn't want to see you driven away from here by something she did. You're an asset to this hospital, Elena. So, I'm willing to help, in any way I can." he finished nobly. Elena's eyes widened at his words. Did she really mean that much to the hospital? Surely everyone would take Katherine's side. She had worked there longer; she was more senior and more respected in her field than Elena was. Sure, she wasn't particularly chummy with the staff and she had a reputation for being a bit of a ball breaker, but Elena didn't think that given the choice anyone would back her cause against the big bad physician of the west.

"Thanks, Alaric," she mumbled uncertainly, "but I'm not sure what can be done about it."

"You could go to Elijah." he offered. "Look at it this way, you've now reported it to two attendings who are, although somewhat biased, willing to back your corner. That way if she doesn't back off then it's been brought to Elijah's attention, and if she continues to threaten you or whatever it is she's doing, then he'll have to give her a disciplinary."

Elena shook her head, taking a lengthy sip from her coffee. "I think that might be waving a red rag at the bull, if I'm honest. Look, she hasn't done anything yet it's all been empty threats." She shrugged, trying to appear less bothered about the situation than she was. "Anyway, if I don't pass my finals then I won't be around for her to bother me anyway."

Alaric laughed. "Yeah, 'cause that's gunna happen with Damon officiating the tests." Elena gave him a pointed look and he raised his hands defensively. "Sorry, I'm kidding. I have every faith in your ability to pass those tests without any outside help." She smiled, finishing her coffee and instantly feeling more reinvigorated.

Chucking the empty cup into a nearby trash can she smiled again before gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb. "I better get back to studying, Bonnie and Caroline have probably murdered each other by now." She paused before leaving. "Thanks, Alaric." she said sincerely and he nodded before they went their separate ways.

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><p><em>I want a lake house :(<em>

_Hope you guys enjoyed this. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think_

_Loveeees_

x


	18. Chapter 18

_A/N- Hiiii! How are we all? Once again thanks sooo much for the reviews on the last chapter, you guys really liked the lake house huh? This chapters a little lacking in D/E action, it's also the penultimate chapter excluding the epilogue that I have in the pipelines._

_As always a huge, huge thanks to my beta, without whom this would probably be a rambling mess of British nonsense that no one would understand- who knew English UK and USA were so different!?_

_Suggested listening for this chapter: Red- Taylor Swift (cuz we all think of Damon when she says 'loving him was red', right?) and Stubborn Love by the Lumineers._

_Got a busy couple of weeks ahead of me but I'll do my best to keep cracking on with this._

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><p>Elena scrunched her nose up and rubbed the back of her neck wearily, easing the tight muscles that protested at being bent forward for such a long time. She sighed as Tyler continued to nervously tap his pen against his paper behind her, occasionally clicking it for good measure. She swivelled in her chair and glared at him pointedly until he stopped, smiling apologetically and mouthing an apology.<p>

"Problem, Dr Gilbert?" Damon's voice piped up from the front of the lecture room they were all sitting in.

She shook her head, turning around again in her chair and re-focussing on the question in front of her. She remembered the words she had been repeatedly told all throughout high school and college: always read the question correctly. But what the hell was this question asking her? She raised her eyes to peer up at Damon from underneath her eyelashes.

He was sitting at a desk at the front of the room, leaning backwards on his chair, rocking it precariously onto two legs. He had his hands resting behind his head, his eyes closed and his face tilted up towards the ceiling. She scowled at his completely relaxed posture, feeling the urge to launch something at him to send him flying off his teetering chair. There was something about how he always leaned back on a chair that way that said more about his personality than he probably knew. He constantly took risks with a blasé attitude that she could never hope to achieve, always appearing beyond relaxed while she floundered over the slightest thing.

She found herself wishing that she had requested some help from him after all, although she knew he would have never helped her get an advantage over everyone else. But maybe a little bit of assistance from the attending who had written the paper would have given her an outside advantage.

Damon glanced down at his expensive watch, puffing out his cheeks before tipping his chair forwards back onto four legs.

"Ten minutes left, people." he declared, glancing around the room at everyone, offering Elena an encouraging smile before returning to his previous position.  
>Elena groaned and gazed back down at her paper; she had filled in most of the questions, but who knew if they were right? She just had one left and it was proving to be the hardest. They had all prepared for tough, medical questions, and she was relatively pleased with how she had answered most of them. However, the final question simply said: why are you a good doctor?<p>

Below the question it was indicated that the question did not account for a huge amount of marks, however, she knew that herself and her fellow interns would find it the most trying and therefore the most important question to answer well.

But what did make her a good doctor? _Was_ she even a good doctor? She considered herself to be perfectly capable, many attendings had commented on her good bedside manner and her smart answers to all their questions. But did that make her a good doctor? She thought about all of the interns she had grown to know and love.  
>Bonnie, who she'd obviously known for a lot longer, was a good doctor because of her no nonsense approach to work. She was a stickler for details and always thought laterally when a seemingly insurmountable problem presented itself.<p>

Caroline, well - Caroline was an easy one. Her bubbly personality made her a favorite with patients and nursing staff alike, she could put a smile on anyone's face and even made the worst of news seem bearable to people.

Tyler was trickier to pin down, but Elena finally agreed that it was his fierce loyalty to his friends and his patients that set him aside from others. Recently, as he had grown in confidence, she had seen him argue the case of many a poor patient who didn't qualify for medical trials due to their insurance or whom other staff had simply written off.

Yet none of this helped her decide what made her a good doctor. She finally looked up at Damon who had incidentally been watching her. He smirked at her, throwing her a wink once he had ascertained that everyone else's heads were downcast as they frantically scribbled their final answers. She returned Damon's smile.

What made him a good doctor? That one was easy, she decided, taking in his confident posture as he surveyed the room like an emperor would his empire. He was so confident that no one would ever doubt that he was anything less than a brilliant doctor. And then it hit her, Damon would be the one marking these papers and in this room she knew Damon better than anyone. She knew how his mind worked and what kind of answer he would be looking for to this question. She smiled to herself as she picked up her pen once more and wrote out her answer slowly and deliberately before putting down her pen and leaning back in her chair leisurely.

* * *

><p>"So, I feel like I could have answered question sixteen more thoroughly, but I still think I got all the basics down. But question seven really stumped me; did you put down four or five main symptoms for the Parkinson's question?" Caroline chirped as she led the way out of the exam room, not stopping to pause for breath. Bonnie groaned loudly as they exited the exam room. Tyler chuckled and slung his arm around Caroline's shoulders.<p>

"Caroline, babe, I just had to write the whole Goddamn paper, I don't wanna have to go over it all again in my head."

"But what if I got a question wrong?" she whined, pouting up at him and causing him to chuckle again.

He shrugged. "Then you got it wrong, you can't change it now. Come on; let's go grab some food since we actually have an afternoon off for once."

"Wait, where'd Elena go?" asked Bonnie as they halted in the middle of the corridor, suddenly realizing she wasn't with the group.

Tyler shrugged, pulling Caroline further down the corridor and whispering something in ear that caused her to shriek with giggles. Bonnie frowned, torn between going with them or going back to find Elena. She turned and headed back to the lecture room, thinking that Elena would probably mind if they'd all gone for food without her.

"I can mark it now, if you want." She heard muffled voices as she approached the room, the door had been pushed too but not fully closed and she frowned as she heard Elena's voice join the conversation, sounding slightly indignant.

"I don't want you to mark it now, you can mark it with everyone else's. Besides, its anonymous marking so you wouldn't know which one was mine anyway." Bonnie paused at the door, not sure whether she was interrupting something, however, she was now fully aware that Elena was in the middle of a discussion with Damon. The pair had become quite secretive with their friendship of late, Bonnie had realized, they rarely ever acknowledged each other in the hospital and Bonnie was only ever aware of when he was at the house when he could hear their whispers from her room. It hurt her to think that Elena might be hiding something from her. She'd also noticed that Dr Pierce, her attending, had been showing an unusual amount of interest in Elena and especially Elena's friendship with Damon; grilling Bonnie with questions whenever she could.

"Trust me, I'd know which one was yours." She could practically hear Dr Salvatore smirking.

"Shut up." Bonnie imagined Elena to have rolled her eyes and from the sound she'd probably smacked him in the chest as she'd seen her do so many times before. After that it went silent. Bonnie remained where she was stood, feeling increasingly guilty for spying on her best friend. She was about to announce her presence when she peered around the door and through the gap that had been left open. She stifled a gasp, clasping her hand over her mouth as she observed her best friend engaging in a ferocious game of tonsil hockey with her attending. Elena was sitting on the large desk that Damon had been sitting at during their exam and said attending was currently standing between her legs, his hands firmly positioned on her waist as Elena ran her hands through his hair. As she stepped away to try and make a run for it, knowing now that she really was interrupting something, her bag strap caught on the door handle, not only causing it to creak loudly but flinging the door open as she tugged her bag free.

Elena sprang away from Damon like he'd burned her, her face immediately flushing bright red. She met Bonnie's eyes briefly before looking straight down at her shoes. Damon, however, remained perfectly composed. He readjusted his tie, tucked his shirt back in and ran a steady hand through his unruly hair before raising an eyebrow at Bonnie.

"Something I can help you with, Bonnie?" he asked, his voice never once suggesting that she had just caught him making out with her best friend.

"Uh..." she swallowed heavily, blushing herself and glancing back and forth between him and Elena. "I was just...we're going to get food. Did you want to come, Elena?" she mumbled.

She was aware that had anyone else walked in it would probably look like Dr Salvatore was reprimanding the two interns who were looking equally sheepish and embarrassed.

Elena looked across at Damon before turning back to her friend. "Uh...yeah sure." She hurriedly grabbed her bag and threw one last look at Damon before exiting the room, grasping onto Bonnie's wrist as she left, tugging her along with her.

* * *

><p>Damon rolled his eyes as the pair darted from the room; a part of him knew that Elena was probably now going to have to explain about the pair of them on her own. However, he knew that Bonnie would be understanding if not initially a little shocked.<p>

He turned back to his desk and the pile of finished tests that were stacked precariously upon it. Rolling his eyes, he decided he would have to mark them at some point and now seemed as good a time as any as he wagered that he wouldn't be seeing Elena for a little while.

He flicked open the page of the first test, scrutinising the handwriting and presuming it to be Caroline's - she'd put hearts instead of dots on the top of every letter 'i' giving him a pretty good indication that it belonged to the blonde doctor. He skimmed over her first answer, adding a mark every time she fulfilled a criteria from the marking scheme he'd set out. In previous examinations other attendings had simply compiled a list of questions from other examinations from the past and put them altogether, but Damon wanted to start with a clean slate and give them a thorough test of their knowledge, not their memory of past paper answers.

Reading through Caroline's paper he had to suppress his feelings of pride as he read through correct answer after correct answer. He came to her final question and carefully read her description of the way in which she had gone above and beyond to attend to a patient. Her story actually ending with the patient sadly dying but Caroline feeling assured that she had done everything she could to make them comfortable and received sincere thanks from the patient's relatives. Damon smirked; alright, he would give it to her, she had proved that she was a caring doctor and he supposed a caring doctor was a good doctor. He simply left the answer blank, it wasn't really contributing to the final marks but he felt it to be the most important question on the whole paper.

Slowly working his way through the papers, he glanced up to see that it had started to drop dark outside. He glanced down at his phone to see that Elena hadn't texted him. He clenched his fingers into a fist to prevent himself from calling her; she really had turned him soft. He opened up a new message and texted her asking if she was alright and how it had gone with Bonnie.

He stretched a crick out of his neck before returning to the paper he had been marking, sighing as he read yet another description of how being smart and coming from a family of doctors meant that they were automatically a good doctor. Occasionally he came across one of his interns papers, easy to identify as they seemed to be obtaining the highest marks, but he was still yet to find Elena's. He exercised his self control to stop himself from rifling through the pile until he found hers.

A soft tapping at the door had him raising his head as the door slowly swung open, revealing Katherine leaning against the frame coyly. Damon groaned, this was so not what he needed right now. He had avoided all contact with Katherine since he had learned of her desperate attempts to blackmail Elena. Elena had begged him not to respond to her threats and he agreed that his self control would be greatly tested if he had to face her.

She sauntered over towards him, trailing her fingers across the backs of chairs and along the edge of the tables, peering at him from underneath her eyelashes. He remained silent, watching her cautiously, not sure if he could control himself from verbally lashing out at her if he let her hear what he wanted to say.

"No shadow today?" she asked sweetly, cocking her head to the side as she stopped in front of his desk.

"She's with her friends." he answered shortly, not pretending like he didn't know who she was talking about. His jaw twitched from the effort of restraint as she as she started discussing Elena.

"Poor girl," cooed Katherine, pouting her lips. "She is so in love with you, it's actually quite endearing. I'm sure it's done wonders for your ego."

"You should leave." he murmured darkly, running a hand over his eyes and gesturing towards the door.

"Hey." When he reopened his eyes she was standing directly in front of him, leaning down to where he was sat in his chair. She ran a manicured finger along his cheek and around his chin, tilting his head up and staring him in the eye. Damon shuddered with revulsion as he shook her hands off him. "You don't have to pretend around me," she said softly, "I know who you really are. So just let go, OK?"

He let out a short, humourless laugh. "You think I want you to leave because I might not be able to control myself around you?" Her composed expression faltered slightly as she detected the hatred behind his words. "I wouldn't touch you if you were the last woman on earth." he whispered into her ear.

She quickly regained her composure and smirked, raising a heavily plucked eyebrow. "Then maybe I should go and have a little chat with Elijah about your illicit relationship with Dr Gilbert." She drew herself up to her full height and gazed down at him, planting a hand on her slender hip, jutting it out.

Damon leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "Go ahead." he challenged nonchalantly. Once again Katherine was slightly thrown off by his manner. "I'm calling your bluff." he explained obviously, as if he was speaking to a five year old. Katherine raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders lightly before turning on her stiletto heels and heading to the exit. "Katherine?" he called out as she strutted away.

She smirked to herself, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she swirled around and smiled sweetly at him.

"Yes, Damon?"

He smiled back at her, standing up from the table and taking a step towards her. "Alaric wanted me to tell you that the dean of discipline from Emory sends her regards. She was surprised to hear about your position here given your...shall we say colourful history there?" He smiled, keeping his tone light as he watched her face drop.  
>Damon smirked as he saw her jaw clench, a nervous tremor running through her body. "What's wrong, Katherine?" he asked, smiling pleasantly. "I mean...you had to know that sleeping with a faculty member so you could get somebody else to take a test for you was wrong, right?"<p>

"You've got nothing on me!" she spat, jabbing her finger in his chest. He folded his arms over his broad torso, chuckling lightly.

"Oh, honey, if only that were true. The guy you slept with was fired last year for gross misconduct after it came to light that he'd been offering his...services to multiple students every year." Damon dramatically cupped a hand around his mouth as he whispered, "Boys and girls!" His mouth dropped open in faux shock.

Katherine let out a small gasp, her face dropping in horror.

"What?" Damon laughed once more at her face. "Did he tell you you were special? You're not special, Katherine. You couldn't even graduate med school without cheating and you've destroyed your own career because of some warped sense of ownership over me that you have. I was willing to look past our history for the sake of being professionals; but you left me no choice. You messed with the wrong girl."

Katherine let out a shaky laugh. "So you're going to save her from the wicked witch of the west, is that it? If you talk, I'll talk Damon. Your career is in tatters along with mine."

Damon smiled sadly, blowing a breath out through his lips as he looked down at his shoes. "That's already all been taken care of."

* * *

><p>"God, Bonnie, please don't hate me." pleaded Elena as soon as they had reached the end of the deserted corridor and Elena had reached her friend, who had flown from the room as if she was being chased by wild dogs.<br>Bonnie ran a hand through her hair and stared at Elena, the panic in her eyes clear.

"You're going to tell me what I just walked in on hasn't become a regular occurrence, right?" asked Bonnie. "I mean, I know you guys have slipped up before but this is different, Elena. This is you breaking hospital rules and flaunting it in plain view on hospital grounds!" She drew in a shaky breath, worried for her friend while also unbelievably relieved that it was herself that had intruded and not someone else, say her devious attending.

"I really wanted to tell you." whispered Elena, hanging her head.

Bonnie sighed heavily, the pair stared at each other, more being said than words could ever accomplish.

"I told you that I hope you knew what you were doing." Bonnie said slowly, "_Do_you?" She raised her eyebrows at Elena hopefully.

Elena shook her head, raking a shaky hand through her long, tangled hair. "No." she mumbled, shrugging her shoulders. "But I can't help it. You knew before I did that I was completely in love with him. I am in way over my head here, Bonnie. I just wish I had told you, I'm so sorry. I just thought the fewer people who knew the better; Alaric only knew because he caught us together in a supply closet."

"In a supply closet!?"

Elena chuckled and rolled her eyes. "It's absurd, right?" The two giggled for a little while and Elena felt the guilt and worry ease off of her in waves, suddenly so glad that she could discuss these things with her best friend once again.

"What are you going to do now?" asked Bonnie once they had finished laughing at the ridiculousness of her hooking up with her attending in a supply closet. "I mean, he's still your attending and it's still not allowed. Are you just gunna keep it a secret for the rest of your life?"

"I have no idea. Damon and Alaric seem to be concocting some hare brained scheme, every time I see them together they're conspiring but they won't tell me what they're doing. And then there's Katherine."

"What does she have to do with it?" asked Bonnie.

"Let's just say she wasn't thrilled with mine and Damon's blossoming friendship and made some threats. I don't know what she'd do if she found out we were really together." Elena grimaced and Bonnie smiled sympathetically, she wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of the wrath of Dr Pierce.

"How about we forget all this drama for a second?" suggested Bonnie, "and go and grab some food with the others at the Grill? Our intern year is almost over and I think we should celebrate, regardless of everything else going on."

Elena smiled gratefully as she looped her arm through her friend's, thankful for having such an understanding best friend who knew exactly what she needed when she needed it. The pair began to stroll towards the hospital exit, resurfacing into the main atrium away from the dim corridors that led to the lecture rooms.

Elena felt at ease once she was out in the open of the light filled atrium. There was something about the hustle and bustle of a hospital that made her feel at home. The whole range of human emotion was on display here if you knew where to look.

She watched a group of interns file out of the main doors, whooping and laughing as they celebrated the end of their exams, as they exited they passed a young couple who were grinning widely as they clutched a blotchy scan picture between their hands and glanced down at the woman's belly in amazement. Across from them an elderly woman was being helped to her feet by what looked to be her Grandson, she offered him a grateful, weary smile as she hobbled away from yet another appointment. Elena sighed, taking it all in before starting to head for the exit herself and catch up with the group of interns. The double doors they had come through slammed open behind them and she and Bonnie turned at the same time to see Katherine come storming towards them.

"You!" she screeched as her eyes landed on Elena, pointing menacingly at the younger brunette. "You little slut! You just couldn't help yourself could you?" she screamed, drawing the attention of everyone in the vicinity.

"Dr Pierce..." began Elena hesitantly, not entirely sure how she could diffuse the situation and detract away from the attention Katherine had gathered towards them.

"Don't Dr Pierce me you good for nothing harlot. I warned you to stay away from him, don't think for one second that just because your little blonde friend took off I can't make your job or any of your other pathetic little peons jobs disappear like that." She snapped her fingers in Elena's face and Elena suddenly noticed the slightly unhinged, wild look behind her eyes.  
>Elena opened her mouth to respond but Katherine cut her off.<p>

"Do you really think you can keep him happy? You're just his little plaything, a cheap imitation of the real deal. He only did it to make me jealous, but I don't get jealous, Elena, I get even and you're going to regret the day that you _ever_thought you could take what belongs to me."

"That is enough, Dr Pierce!" a loud male voice boomed across the atrium and the three women froze, recognizing it immediately. Elijah strolled over towards them, Alaric keeping in step with him and throwing Elena a wink as they drew level to the group. "I think you'd better come with me so we can have a little talk." he stated calmly, voicing it like a suggestion that Katherine had absolutely no say in.

"Actually, Elijah, why don't we talk here?" she said slyly, continuing to project her voice to everyone who was listening, "So I can tell you all about the things your little golden girl here has been doing with her attending." She smirked, folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her eyes at Elena who blushed furiously and blinked back tears. Where the hell was Damon? she thought desperately. She had thought she could fight her own battles but right now he was the only thing she needed to make this all alright.

"That won't be necessary, Katherine." replied Elijah, "I'm well aware of what has been going in my hospital. Now I've been having an interesting discussion with Doctor Saltzman here and I think it's time you and I reviewed your position here at MFG." Katherine's mouth fell open as she stared at Elijah, her head whipping between him and Alaric as her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

Elijah placed a gentle hand on her forearm and guided her away but not before sending a reassuring smile Elena's way, leaving her standing in the atrium with Bonnie and Alaric, panic running through her veins.

"Alaric?" she turned to him, her eyes begging him to let her know what was going on.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before shaking his head at her.

"You should probably talk to Damon about this one, Elena. It's not really my place." His voice didn't serve her any comfort and from the defeated look in his eyes she could already guess what would happen now that Elijah knew about them. She took a step away from her best friend and Alaric before turning and running back to the lecture room where she would find Damon and the answers she was looking for.

* * *

><p><em>Dun dun dunnnnn! Has Damon struck some kind of deal with Elijah? Is he gunna get fired? <em>

_Also, just quickly, please tell me you guys watched the space jump! Uh-mazingggggggg! I could not do that, I felt sick just watching it. _

_Please please pleaseee review! And add me on twitter: campfire_tales1 (I don't have very followers *sniff*) _

_Much love_

_xxxx_


	19. Chapter 19

A-N- _Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews on the last chapter. I wish I could get back to all of you but I've been super busy and whenever I had time I wanted to work on this chapter. I hope that you can all understand. I will endeavour to reply to you all soon._

_I must say an unbelievably huge thank you to my beta, ellisaco, who has vastly improved this story with her guidance. I cannot thank you enough._

_I have never been so nervous about a chapter before- so without further ado, here it is. The final chapter._

* * *

><p>Storming through the deserted corridors, Elena's steps echoed off the cold walls of the lower floors of MFG. Down here was mainly lecture halls, classrooms, and abandoned hospital beds that no longer served their function. She was grateful for the quiet in order to try and get her thoughts straight. If Elijah was aware of what had been going on between her and Damon, did that mean they were both out of a job? It certainly hadn't seemed that way when Elijah was standing in front of her; he had seemed his same benevolent self - apart from his stern words delivered to Katherine.<p>

The more likely answer, she realized, was that Damon had taken the fall for them both and accepted responsibility for their relationship having developed. It was therefore highly likely that he could be losing his job, an option that didn't compute for Elena.

She didn't knock before entering the exam room, spying Damon sitting at the same desk, his head bent over a stack of papers.

"What is it now, Katherine?" he snapped, not raising his head as she made her way into the room.

"Katherine was here?" she asked, stopping short of his desk and pausing with her hand on the back of a chair.

"Elena!" His head snapped up in surprise, and for a minute she saw right through his confident facade and saw the tired man that he probably was. "Uh...yeah, she was. Scheming and manipulating as always but uh...Alaric and I did some digging so I don't think she'll be bothering you anymore." He smiled sadly, the air between them more awkward than it had ever been.

"Yeah, I guessed that when Elijah just hauled her away to her office after she called me a slut in the middle of the atrium."

"She called you a slut?" he shouted, making her jump slightly.

"Yeah." She smirked and shrugged. "And a harlot; gotta give her points for originality on that one, can't say I've heard that one since the Middle Ages." She slowly made her way over to his desk, shuffling some of the papers out of the way before perching herself on the edge of it next to where he was sitting. She swung her legs back and forwards, tucking her hands under her thighs and looking down at her feet.

"Do you have something to tell me?" she finally asked, not looking up at him as her legs swung backwards and forwards.  
>"Erm..." He coughed awkwardly and leaning back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. She looked across at him and nodded solemnly.<p>

"Right." she said, trying not to let too much disappointment seep into her voice. She had thought he might be honest with her and explain what was going on, but it was obvious that regardless of their personal relationship she was still his inferior. "Well, I'm going to the Grill with the others to celebrate, so I guess I'll see you around. Call me if you want to talk." She hopped off his desk and was out the door before he could call after her to explain his hesitation at opening up to her.

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight," said Tyler as he placed three more beers onto their table and swigged from his own, "you and Dr Salvatore have been in a relationship for weeks, and you managed to keep it secret from everyone?"<p>

Elena nodded, taking a long drink from her own beer, having lost count of what number she was on. She had decided that now was as good a time as any to let her friends in on what had been going on between Damon. If he wasn't going to be honest with her then she would be honest with her own friends about everything she knew.

"Pretty much, yeah." she affirmed, smiling as Caroline choked on her beer a little.

"So, when did this happen exactly?" pressed the blonde. "Because one minute we were all getting whiplash from having to watch you two hate on each other then suddenly become besties... At what point did this turn into an illicit love affair?"

"Jesus, Caroline, you make it sound like a Mills and Boon novel." quipped Bonnie while the others laughed.

"It is a bit Mills and Boon-y if you ask me." she chirped, bobbing her tongue out at Bonnie. "So, come on, spill." she urged Elena.

Elena recalled the whole story of them getting together, backtracking all the way to the incident at the hospital benefit.

"But that was ages ago!" squealed Caroline, secretly delighted by her friend sharing such juicy gossip.

"Oh! That reminds me," interjected Tyler, "my Dad says there's another one of those coming up and said all of you guys could come. Interns don't normally go to them but its open bar so I figured it might be OK."

The three girls laughed and agreed before immediately changing the subject to which dresses they would wear, succeeding brilliantly in taking Elena's mind off her drama with Damon.

Later that evening the four of them staggered out of the Grill, surprised to find that it was so dark and they'd been in there for so long. Caroline and Tyler bid Elena and Bonnie good night and headed off in the opposite direction, leaving the two roommates to walk home.

"Do you think I should call him?" asked Elena drunkenly. "I think I should call him, maybe he wants to talk now."

Bonnie sighed, having heard this conversation already several times this evening. "Don't you think he'll call when he's ready to talk to you?" she asked, wincing in preparation for a snappy reply from Elena. However, all she was met with was a heavy sigh. She looked across at her friend and saw her running a hand through her hair.

"It's not like we even had a fight or anything. He's keeping something from me, I know he is; something really important. I don't want him to give up his job for me, Bonnie." She stopped walking and turned to her best friend, her eyes full of unshed tears as she sniffed pitifully. Bonnie wrapped her up in a hug, stroking her hair soothingly like Elena remembered her mom used to when she was upset. At the thought of her mom more tears surfaced as she choked back a sob. God, what was wrong with her?

"I'm OK, I'm OK." She pulled away from Bonnie, hastily wiping away her tears with the back of her hands before looping her arm through Bonnie's and continuing their walk home. "Just a bit of an emotional drunk right now."

Bonnie snorted. "When has that ever been any different?" The two laughed and walked the rest of the way talking about insignificant things; Elena recounted the phone call she'd shared with Matt the other day and told Bonnie all about how he was enjoying his new job with Jamie.

She sat on her bed later that evening, staring at her phone. Cursing herself for being so dramatic, she punched in Damon's number before holding it to her ear. She wasn't sure what was worse, the nagging in the back of her head that had told her to ring him or the sound of his phone ringing off and connecting to voicemail as he ignored her. Not having the energy to leave a message or try again, she turned her phone off and went to sleep.

Damon stared down at his phone as the screen faded to black again as the call rang out. Waiting to see whether she left a message, he took another swig of his bourbon. It was better this way, he told himself as he finished off another glass, he just needed time to figure out what his next step would be and then he would tell her.

* * *

><p>Elena strolled into the large ballroom, immediately dislodging herself from Tyler and Caroline and heading towards the bar. As she suspected, Damon was leisurely leaning on a bent elbow, clutching a glass of bourbon in his hand and talking good naturedly with Alaric.<p>

As soon as her eyes landed upon him she stormed over, raising her eyebrows at him expectantly as he lazily dragged his eyes over her figure.

"Hello, Elena, you look lovely." he slurred, tipping his glass towards her before knocking it backwards.

"You've been avoiding me." she replied calmly.

"And that's my cue I think." Alaric smiled awkwardly at the pair and offered Elena a smile before departing from the couple and heading off to find Jenna.

"I don't know what you're talking about." slurred Damon, raising his index finger towards a passing waiter and waving his empty glass at him. Great, thought Elena, trying to reason with a drunken Damon was like trying to converse with a five year old. As he raked his eyes over her once more she decided that it was probably more like a horny teenager on second thought.

"I'm not an idiot, Damon." She lowered her voice, stepping towards him. "I have spent every day with you for the past God knows how many weeks. I _know_when you are ignoring me. So what the hell is going on?" she hissed through gritted teeth.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, a look of startled obliviousness spreading across his face. "Elena I-" he began unsteadily.

"And you can drop the drunken act, Damon. There is no way you have been here long enough for you to be this wasted, so sober up and start talking." She jabbed a finger in his chest, the past week of emotion building up and spilling over as she stood before him.

Ignoring her completely, he waggled a finger and smirked, pulling a hip flask from his pocket and shaking it to show that it was empty before slipping it back into his tuxedo pocket. She groaned in frustration, throwing her hands up into the air.

"You are unbelievable." she choked, swallowing back tears before storming away from him. He watched her walk away sadly, chiding himself for being such a coward. He didn't know why he was holding off on telling her; she was a big girl, she would understand and they would still be able to be together. That was what was important to him, that they would be together. However, he knew Elena wouldn't see it that way; she would see it as abandonment by her mentor, she would not want to stay on at MFG without him, and she wouldn't want him sacrificing himself to save her.

But how could he make her see it from his point of view? She was fiery and opinionated right to her core, it was one of the things that he loved most about her. She always stood up for what she thought was right and she wouldn't take his resignation lying down for certain. So until he had a plan as to how he would break the news to her, it was better that he distance himself from her.

It hadn't been easy; his bed felt absurdly huge and empty without her warm body curled around him. His shifts at the hospital, which he'd ensured differed from hers, dragged on at a snail's pace. He'd found himself questioning what he'd done with his days before she'd come into his life, what had he filled the hours with and what had filled his mind before he met her.

He watched as she marched over to Caroline and Tyler, the latter excusing himself once the girls started gossiping. Caroline ran a hand through Elena's hair attempting to comfort her as Elena waved her arms around frantically, obviously recanting their exchange.

"Evening, Dr Salvatore." Tyler had appeared next to him, ordering a drink from the barman who had approached him, recognising the son of Mr Lockwood immediately. Tyler turned towards Damon, "You want anything?"  
>Damon shook his head, glancing down at the near empty glass that had been placed in his hand by the passing waiter a few moments before. He should really slow down or he'd forget why he was drinking in the first place and probably stumble over to Elena, apologizing profusely for his behaviour and begging her to let him take her home.<p>

"My Dad told me about Dr's Smith's announcement," he said, taking a sip of the beer he'd ordered and facing Damon. "Should make for quite the surprise I think." Damon nodded, unsure of why Tyler had come over to speak to him, other than to avoid the drama fest that was going on between Caroline and Elena.

"He, uh...he also mentioned that you would be leaving as well." continued Tyler uncomfortably, loosening his tie around his neck. "...because of Elena." Damon choked on his drink, meeting Tyler's stare.

"Yeah," he answered, "I, uh...I think it's probably for the best."

"The best for you, or the best for my Dad and the rest of the board?"

"It's the best thing for everyone, Tyler." he answered solemnly.

"Not the best for Elena," protested Tyler. "She's going crazy over there; Caroline said Bonnie told her she's barely slept all week. Yesterday she almost broke down on the ward. You know that she won't let you leave for her, Dr Salvatore. It won't be the same here without you, for any of us."

Damon sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he'd only considered the effect it would have on Elena but thinking about the rest of his interns made it even harder. He shrugged and smiled gratefully at Tyler.

"My hands are tied, Tyler." He placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded before walking away from him and towards where Elena was standing. He knew what he had to do, it didn't make it any easier, but she deserved to hear what was going to happen from him. She'd figured it out already but it would be best for her to hear it from him and give him an opportunity to explain himself.

* * *

><p>Caroline and Elena were still conversing in hushed tones as he approached the pair. Caroline gave him her best protective best friend glare as she spied him walking towards them over Elena's shoulder. She flicked her chin in his direction and he saw Elena's spine stiffen and her knuckles whitened where she clutched her bag. Caroline continued to glare at him as he paused directly behind Elena, practically feeling the waves of rage coming off her. He had to give it to Caroline, she was putting on a sterling show of solidarity. He was glad that Elena had loyal friends like her, it would make his leaving a lot easier on her, he was sure of it.<p>

"Caroline, do you think I could steal Elena away for a minute?" he asked, placing his hands in his pockets and lifting his shoulders, fixing her with his best shy smile. She raised an eyebrow at him, his charm clearly falling short of working on her. She looked at Elena, who was yet to turn around and face him; the two girls communicated silently before Caroline huffed and walked away, not before giving Elena a comforting smile.

He let his eyes drift over her back as she continued to ignore him and face away him. The form fitting, black sequined gown had an open back that revealed the soft flesh of her spine, hugging her figure before flaring lightly at the hips and drifting effortlessly to the floor. He yearned to run a finger down her exposed back and get a reaction out of her, to make her see the effect that she had on him. However he lightly gripped her wrist and turned her around to face him, pleasantly surprised that she didn't resist him.

"Will you dance with me?" he asked softly, brushing back a tendril of hair that had escaped the loose bun at the nape of her neck.

She didn't answer him but allowed herself to be led out onto the dance floor; joining the miscellaneous other couples that were gliding around the ballroom. They all vanished into obscurity as soon as Damon took her in his arms, guiding them around the floor with a skilled precision.

"I remember the first one of these things we both came to," he spoke into her ear, desperate to spark up a conversation as she danced with him silently. "I watched you dance with Matt all night and all I could think about was how badly I wanted you in my arms."

Elena snorted derisively. "That was another disastrous night as well."

He smirked, his lips quirking upwards into a crooked smile. "It wasn't all bad, I happen to remember some particularly fun moments in the woods." He could see that she was fighting back a smile, lowering her head to look down at their feet before looking back up at him."I'm sorry." he finally said, looking her directly in the eye. She raised an eyebrow and he realized that she wasn't going to make this easy on him. "For avoiding you." he clarified.

"Oh, so you _have_ been avoiding me?"

Ok, so she definitely wasn't going to make this easy on him, she was going to make it just about as hard as she could. But he supposed that he deserved it. He had made a life changing decision without consulting the one person that really mattered in his life, the one person who he could imagine spending the rest of his life with in fact.  
>"I went to see Elijah a few weeks ago, just before Katherine was fired," he explained slowly. "He accepted my resignation from MFG...I leave in a week." Elena's mouth dropped open, forming a perfect 'o' as she stood and stared at him. They had both stopped dancing, simply staring at each other in the middle of the dance floor.<p>

She pulled away from him, running a hand down her face before it settled over her open mouth. She slid a hand around her waist and hugged herself as tears welled up in her eyes. Damon took a step forward to comfort her, but she shook her head furiously before walking away from him. She shoved her way through the mingling guests, bundling the train of her dress up into her hand and shouldering her way towards the door.

* * *

><p>Damon stood still for a moment before taking off after her, too concerned about her to care about the stares that they had gathered or the attention that was focussed upon Dr. Salvatore having what seemed to be a lovers tiff with his young intern. He saw her brown hair pass through the door to the Lockwood mansion and he pushed his way through to the outside of the house, finding her standing on the steps on her own.<p>

"Elena-"

She turned to face him, tears had smudged her mascara and her cheeks were red, she sniffed lightly and he wished that he didn't have to hurt her so much.

"Please don't cry." He cupped his hands against her cheeks, wiping his thumbs underneath her eyes to wipe away the make-up that had settled there.

"I can't let you give up your job for me, Damon." She raised her eyes to look at him, taking his hands between hers and entwining his fingers with hers as she lowered them.

"I can't let you lose yours over me." he countered. "I won't be responsible for this hospital losing one of its most promising interns and I can't deprive you of the opportunity to follow in your father's footsteps."

"Please just-" She choked on her tears, wiping them away with the back of her hands before joining her fingers with him once more. "Can't you just talk to Elijah and-"

"It's not up to Elijah, Elena. The board makes these rules and Richard Lockwood has made it clear in the past that he doesn't tolerate relationships between staff members." He shifted uncomfortably, not sure that he should be sharing this information with her, "Also, Elijah is going to announce his retirement this evening."

"What!?"

"Yeah...listen that's not important, Elena." he uttered impatiently. He shifted, cupping her face between his palms once more. "My entire adult life, hell my whole life period, has been about one thing-becoming a doctor. It was all I ever wanted and it's all I ever strived for. Everything else didn't matter as long as I could call myself a doctor, as long as I was making my mom proud of me."

"Damon-" she tried to interrupt, not sure where this was going but not really sure this was making her feel any less guilty about him sacrificing his job.

"And then there was you." he whispered reverently, the tips of his fingers brushing through her soft brown locks. "Elena, it doesn't matter if I'm a doctor at MFG or...I don't know a zookeeper-" he exclaimed, throwing his arms out wide and laughing, "I love you, and I always will, no matter what I'm doing or who I am. It's always going to be you for me, baby. Nothing will change that- especially my place of work."

She nodded solemnly, understanding his reasoning as she felt the exact same way herself. Yet she also felt that although their personal and romantic relationship might not require them to work at the same hospital, she still needed a mentor.

"But-but-" she sputtered, trying as hard as she could not to sound like a petulant child. "I _need_you. I need you to tell me when I'm being stubborn and stupid or when I'm wrong. You're the only person I ever want to hear telling me I'm right. I need you to make me a good doctor, Damon."

He smirked, scuffing a pebble with his shoe and smiling boyishly before looking up at her from beneath his lashes. "Honey," he drawled, producing a crumpled wad of paper from out of his tux pocket, "you're already there." He handed her the paper and watched as she unfolded, a pretty frown peppering her brow and she read it.

Understanding dawned across her face as she recognized the final sheet from her test. At the bottom of the paper where the final question 'what makes you a good doctor' had been written, her answer was scrawled across in large writing.

"I'm not a good doctor, I'm a great doctor." she read out carefully. She looked up at him and matched his easygoing smile.

"Congrats by the way," he indicated towards the paper in her hands, "top marks. Believe me; I tried really hard to find a fault. Didn't want your ego to get inflated as mine or we might not fit in the same bed."

* * *

><p>Caroline wrung her hands nervously before collecting her fifth consecutive glass of champagne from a passing waiter and downing it unceremoniously.<br>"Do you think I should go and check on her?" she asked anxiously, turning towards Tyler. "She looked really upset and they've been gone a while." Tyler smiled and placed a calming hand on her forearm, rubbing soothing circles onto her skin.

"Relax, babe, I'm sure Dr. Salvatore has it all under control." He snorted, shaking his head in disbelief as the thought of his friend and their attending together once more. "I still can't believe they've been having this surreptitious relationship for so long without any of us knowing."

Caroline inclined her head and shrugged a shoulder. "I guess not everyone is as public with their displays of affection as you and I." She grinned, leaning forwards and pressing a gentle kiss to her boyfriend's cheek.

Tyler swirled the dregs of his beer around the bottom of his bottle, watching the contents develop into a whirlpool. He frowned suddenly, looking across at Caroline.

"Don't you think it's odd he didn't say anything about us." he said.

"Who didn't say what about us?" she asked innocently, not sure where his stream of consciousness had taken him.  
>"My Dad." he clarified, "Don't you think it's weird that when I introduced you to him, he didn't say one thing about us working at the hospital together?"<p>

Caroline considered it for a moment. "I guess so, it is a little strange. But I was always taught to never look a gift horse in the mouth." Tyler quickly downed his beer, slamming the empty bottle down on a side table before pulling Caroline towards him, planting a short sharp kiss on her mouth before grinning widely at her.

"Thank you, baby, you're a genius." She watched him sprint away with acute confusion, glancing around her as if she would find some explanation for his strange behaviour in the faces of the fellow guests.

"Dad!" Tyler almost skidded across the ballroom floor in his shiny shoes as he spotted his father conversing with some old friends.

"Tyler..." his father answered warily, not used to such displays of enthusiasm from his son, especially not at formal events like this where he knew how he was expected to behave.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked frantically, practically tugging at Richard Lockwood's elbow to dislodge him from his social group and into his private study. The minute they entered he rounded on his son.

"Tyler, what on earth is going on? Why do you look so...manic? Are you...are you high? Because I thought we'd been through this when you were eighteen, young man-" he blustered, puffing his chest out, ready to serve his son with a hefty lecture.

"No, no, Dad I'm not high. I just...I had something I really, really needed to talk to you about and it's kind of urgent." he garbled, barely pausing for breath. "You want me to be happy, right, Dad?" he demanded.

"Well...yes, of course I do, son." Richard Lockwood replied, utterly confused now.

"And you like Caroline, right?" he continued, pacing back and forth in his father's study and pausing periodically to await his father's answers.

"Yes, she seems like a nice girl. Tyler, what is going on?" His face blanched as he clued in on what might be the cause for this outburst. "Is Caroline-is she...pregnant?" he whispered, dramatically lowering his voice.  
>"No, Dad." Tyler frantically dragged his hands through his hair. "You're not getting this." He stopped directly in front of his Father. "Ok. Caroline and I, we work at MFG together. We're both doctors, we share patients and we are also in a relationship." he stated simply, looking into his Father's eyes.<p>

"Yes...?" drawled Richard Lockwood.

"And that's OK? With you I mean?" pressed Tyler.

"Well...yeah, I guess so, Tyler. Like you said, I want you to be happy and Caroline is a nice girl, she comes from a good family and she's going to have a good career, just like you."

Tyler laughed loudly, throwing his hands into the air; his Father watched on, unsure whether his son might be having some kind of meltdown and whether he should call for help.  
>"And...and if I had friends, you would want them to be happy as well?" panted Tyler, waving his hands in his Father's face emphatically.<p>

"What do you mean, Tyler?"

"If someone else was in a similar position to Caroline and I, would you want them to have a chance at happiness as well?" he asked urgently.

His Father mulled the question over for a few moments, feeling that he might now have a grasp on what was going on. There had been rumours floating around amongst the board members lately that there had been something going on between the Gilbert girl and her attending, Damon Salvatore. Richard had stayed out of it, presuming that Elijah would deal with any misdemeanours in the right way and that if it needed to be brought to the Board's attention it would be. He was pleased, therefore, when Elijah had calmly told him that Dr Salvatore would be resigning his post after working his notice.  
>He hadn't been keen on Damon Salvatore when he'd last met him at one of these functions. The man was too good looking for his own good for one thing, sending his wife Carol into a frenzy over how handsome he was. He'd also never taken kindly to the young man's father, who had made it his business during his years as a Mystic Falls resident to belittle all the things they did as a town and he wasn't exactly missed when he moved away some years later.<p>

However, he'd heard his son rave about him often enough to see that he was an outstanding mentor to his interns, Tyler in particular seemed to have begun to take his career much more seriously since being under the wing of Dr Salvatore.

Finally, he considered what was probably the most important thing to him; his image. If he allowed his son to carry out a relationship with a fellow intern without consequences but was responsible for the removal of one of their best attendings for similar reasons it would look decidedly bad against him. It couldn't be one rule for Lockwoods and one rule for everyone else; as much as he'd like it to be. He'd also learned long ago that depriving Tyler of something he wanted was just about the easiest way to have a full blown rebellion on your hands and it wasn't something he wished to repeat by forbidding his son from seeing Caroline Forbes. Besides- he liked the girl and it seemed a shame for their relationship to be halted by something as silly as hospital policy.

He sighed heavily, running a hand through his steadily thinning hair.  
>"Yes, Tyler, I would want them to have a chance as well." He sent his son a wearisome look. "And I think I know what this is all about...finally." Tyler grinned; his son had always liked to play the hero.<p>

"So it's alright for hospital employees to be in relationships with each other then?" Tyler clarified, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Yes." admitted his Father wearily before watching his son sprint from the room. He made his own way back to the party but stopped short when a crowd began to gather near the foot of the grand staircase as someone tapped their glass to draw everyone's attention.  
>Elijah stepped up onto the staircase, placing himself in clear view of everyone gathered.<br>"Good evening, ladies and gentleman." he called out, a charming smile plastered across his face. "Thank you all for attending another wonderful hospital benefit and donating so generously to our causes." He paused dramatically and looked around the room for effect before continuing, "I also have a rather large announcement to make. Some of you may have heard through various rumour mills that I will be retiring very shortly." A collective gasp echoed around the room and Elijah had to wait several moments, like a teacher in front of a class, for the hushed whispers to die down. "Although I will be extremely sad to leave Mystic Falls General I am delighted to announce that my successor will be the very capable, Dr. Alaric Saltzman."

Polite applause followed as Alaric ducked up onto the staircase to shake Elijah's hand, waving off Elijah's attempts for him to make a speech. Elijah cleared his throat loudly enough to draw the room's attention back towards him.

"Just once more announcement tonight, from Dr. Salvatore. Damon- would you mind coming up, son?" Elijah raised himself up on tiptoes to look across the crowd before spotting a solemn looking Damon standing at the back. He smiled encouragingly as the younger man worked his way through the crowd towards him before standing next to him on the stairs.  
>"I uh..." began Damon unconvincingly, scratching the back of his neck nervously and trying to avoid Elena's heartbreaking stare from the back of the room. "I just wanted to make a quick announcement while everyone was gathered-" Suddenly Tyler Lockwood had appeared next to him. He pulled him away from Elijah and whispered in his ear, recounting his entire conversation with his father.<br>Damon suppressed a grin before turning back to face everyone and clapping Tyler on the back as he hopped back down the stairs and into the crowd.  
>"Sorry I erm...I just wanted to offer my congratulations to Alaric and make a toast to his future success." He raised his glass and smirked, "To Alaric." he declared, hearing it echoed by the crowd before hopping down the stairs himself, desperately searching for Elena.<p>

"Damon." Elijah called from behind him, fixing him with a disappointed gaze. "We talked about this."

"Yeah, I know." He sighed, "But it turns out Richard Lockwood and the Board aren't that bothered by it, Elijah. So I can stay...I guess." He grinned, shrugging as he struggled to comprehend it himself.

He turned away from the perplexed Elijah, frantically searching for his girlfriend. Suddenly, like the parting of the waters the crowd seemed to disperse and there was only her. For him, he thought, there had only ever been her. Before he even really knew she was what he was looking for she was the one for him. He'd been waiting all his life for her.

He reached her, wrapping her up in his arms and spinning her around as she laughed freely.

"Damon, what's going on?" she asked, grinning at him, her cheeks flushed from being spun. He looked over her shoulder to where Tyler was no doubt recounting his discussion with his Dad to Caroline; he caught the young man's eye and sent him a wink, before looking back down at Elena.

He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and smiled brilliantly at her.  
>"I have some really good news."<p>

* * *

><p><em>So that is it. Please, please review. I would love to hear your feelings on this ending.<em>

_This is the first story that I have ever finished in my entire life, in any capacity. I can't believe that its been almost an entire year since I sat down during my Christmas holidays and decided to give this whole FanFiction thing a go. It's been an incredible thing for me to do, just to prove to myself that I can do it, and its been so wonderful to actually receive such support for something that I just did for a bit of fun._

_Thank you to anyone who has read, reviewed, followed or favourited. You're amazing._

_There will be an epilogue chapter very shortly which is already written so please check that out._

_Much love_

_xxxxx_


	20. Epilogue

_A/N- So here it is. The epilogue. We're skipping quite a few years into the future here. I had a lot of fun writing this, thanks as always to my wonderful beta._

_Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews on the last chapter, I love reading each and everyone of them. With this final chapter I'd love to know what your favourite part of this story has been, if you have one. It can be anything from your favourite chapter, bit, character line...whatever. I'd really love to know._

_Thanks for reading this guys and enjoy!_

* * *

><p>"Dr Salvatore?" The young doctor swivelled and looked at the even younger intern, raising an eyebrow.<p>

"Yes?"

"Erm...I'm really struggling to get a line into one of my patients and I wondered if you could help me."

"Where's your attending?"

"He...uh...I didn't want to ask him."  
>The intern didn't have time to finish before he was following the doctor over to where the patient was lying and the resident had set about trying to put the line into the back of their hand.<p>

"Dr Salvatore!" a male voice called from across the ward. Elena groaned as she bent over the patient, ignoring the twinge in her back and rolled her eyes. Straightening up she smiled sympathetically across to the young intern who looked like he might combust from nerves.

"Yes, Damon?" she asked sweetly.

"What are you doing with Dr White's patient?" Elena rolled her eyes again, cocking her head to the side and folding her arms. The intern, Dr White, whimpered slightly and Elena glanced across at him, signaling with her eyes that she had this under control.

"He needed a line putting in." she answered matter of factly. Damon mirrored her pose, raising himself up and folding his arms across his broad chest.

"I don't think that in your condition-"

"Damon, I'm pregnant, not disabled and since you are not my OBGYN I'm not about to take advice on what I can and can't do from you. I am perfectly capable of inserting a line." she snapped.

"You know who else should be capable of inserting a line? My interns! But you won't stop helping them behind my back-"

"Because _you _won't stop yelling at them!" she screeched, drawing the attention of the majority of the patients, most of the ward staff having become numb to the sounds of their arguing by now.

"That's how they learn, that's how you learned!" He pointed a finger at her.

"That's because contrary to your beliefs, I was never scared of you...no offense." She looked across to the nervy intern. He really did seem a bit of a sap she had to admit but she was a firm believer that everyone deserved a chance.

"Yeah, well maybe I'll just bring this up with the Chief," he taunted.

"Oh, by all means run and tell on me to Alaric, just don't expect either of you to be eating Christmas dinner this year." she replied haughtily. "Me, Jenna, and the whole bunch will have a merry time without the pair of you. I hear the Grill opens for local alcoholics and destitute husbands; you'll fit right in." She placed her hands on her steadily widening hips and smiled acerbically.

He scoffed and chuckled. "Please, like you and Jenna could cope without my cooking. You'd end up eating takeout for Christmas dinner!"

Her cheeks reddened with indignation. "Well if that's what it comes down to, then so be it."

"Erm...Dr Salvatore?" Dr White drew their attention back to him.

"What?" they both snapped, hiding their identical smirks and sideways glances; it never got old when that happened.  
>The intern was stood back next to the patient with the line inserted into his wrist and a cannula in place. "I did it." he announced, like a child seeking the approval of his rowing parents.<p>

Damon patted the pockets of his white coat, frowning dramatically. "Well I'm fresh out of medals there, champ, but the marching band should be along any minute now!" The young intern's face dropped and Elena scowled at Damon.

"Good job, Dr White." Elena stepped forward and placed a motherly hand on the trembling doctor's shoulders.

The intern glanced over Elena's shoulder to where her husband was fixing him with a look that could melt flesh.

"T-thanks, Dr Salvatore." he mumbled before scurrying away, avoiding the scathing look that his attending followed him with.

* * *

><p>"Thanks, Dr Salvatore!" mimicked Damon, raising his voice to an irritatingly high pitch and causing Elena to fix him with a scowl. "I still don't really know how to insert a line because your wife always helps me, but I'm sure I'll still make a good doctor." he continued sarcastically, drawing closer to Elena before tugging her towards him from her ever expanding waist.<p>

"Stop it!" she chided, slapping him lightly on the chest as he smirked. She rolled her eyes at him, hiding a smile. "Remind me why I married you again?"  
>"Hmm? Because I knocked you up?" He flashed her a grin.<p>

"You knocked me up after we got married, idiot." She added another tap to his still well muscled chest.

"Not for want of trying." he murmured, pulling her in as close as was possible with her protruding belly, and pressing a soft kiss to her neck that sent a shiver down her spine. "I can show you later if you'd like." he sang into her ear, swaying her side to side lightly in his arms.

"A-hem!" A loud clearing of a throat behind them pulled them apart as they both turned around.

"If you don't mind, some of us are already ill. I don't wanna get anymore sick by having to watch you pair paw at each other." The old man who had just had his line inserted complained.

"Sorry, Mr Peterson!" they both apologized, hiding their grins as they walked away from the end of the elderly man's bed, both smiling and laughing together.

"Did you sort out your plans for Saturday with Alaric?" asked Elena as they walked into a quiet corridor, their hands joined and swinging between them, both of them eager for the day when they would have a little one swinging alongside them in the middle.

"Yeah, we're gunna meet Stefan at the Grill for a few drinks and just see where the night takes us I guess. Maybe hit up a few strip clubs, you know," He shrugged nonchalantly, "The usual."

Elena snorted. "You'll be home by nine for sure." She giggled, pressing her forehead into his shoulder for a second to disguise her laughter before smiling up at him.

"I am gunna party the night away for your information, Mrs. Salvatore! I'm not half as old as you make me out to be."

Elena nodded mockingly, pretending to agree with his every word. "Stefan's going?" she inquired once the moment had passed. Damon ran his hand through his hair and nodded.

"Yeah, he called and said he was coming into town, so I figured since I'm being ousted from my own home I should invite him along."

"You make it sound like I'm throwing you out on a permanent basis. It's just one night for my baby shower." protested Elena.

Damon laughed sardonically. "Please, I am being kicked out of the house so that Dr. Barbie can make you play stupid games that will neither decide nor predict the gender of our future child. And you're gunna hate it cause you can't even have a drink!" He prodded a finger at her, knowing that she would despise the evening spent playing girly games while he got to sit in the Grill, drinking and playing pool with the guys.

They had decided to wait instead of finding out the sex of the baby. Neither of them were particularly bothered about what it would be, both too happy and excited to worry about gender. The only problem that had presented itself was the decoration of the nursery- Elena wanted yellow while Damon protested the yellow was most definitely not a gender neutral color and when had she ever seen a man in yellow. This had lead to many heated discussions about the fact that their child would not be born a fully grown man and how she refused to paint the baby's room white and have it look like a medical examination room.

Elena rolled her eyes, secretly knowing that he was right. "I wish you'd stop calling her that." she said, deciding to change the subject and referring to his nickname for Caroline.

"What? Dr. Barbie? But it's her name!" he exclaimed. "I even bought her that lab coat for Christmas with it stitched on and everything."

"It's not funny, Damon." chided Elena, although she had laughed endlessly when Caroline had first worn the coat. "She says its compromises her professional integrity, yesterday one of the interns called her that!"

"Which one?" pressed Damon, immediately protective of Elena's best friend and his old intern which warmed her heart.

"It doesn't matter which one. Anyway she gave him two weeks of washing bedpans every evening so I think he learned his lesson."

Damon smirked. "That's my girl. I taught her well." Elena rolled her eyes and pressed herself against Damon, drawing him into a hug.

"I don't want to go tonight." she whined, confirming his suspicions that she was going to hate it. "Can't we just say I feel sick or something?"

Damon laughed, running his hands up and down her back. "Yeah, cause telling a bunch of doctors you're sick is gunna ward them off. They'd still wanna come round and diagnose you." Elena scoffed in agreement, he was probably right.

"I don't see why you can't come, why don't you just stay?" she asked, giving him her best puppy dog eyes.

"Elenaaaa!" he whined like a petulant teenager, "I drew out a whole bunch of one's for this evening, what else am I gunna use them for if not to put in stripper's g-string?" He smirked as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're disgusting." she said sharply, fighting back a smile.

"You married me." he shrugged, pulling her to him once more and planting a kiss on her forehead.

* * *

><p>"Oh! There you are." They both turned as Caroline's voice echoed down the corridor as she hurried towards them. Damon groaned, just loud enough for both girls to hear, although Caroline chose to ignore it. "Can I get your spare key, 'Lena so I can drop some stuff off for later?" she asked brightly.<p>

"I'm not giving you a key to my house." answered Damon, immediately jumping in before Elena could reply.

"I wasn't speaking to you." replied Caroline, never once even looking in his direction, but opening her palm to Elena for the key.

"Well that's a shame, cause guess who has the spare key?" A wide smirk spread across his face as Caroline turned to him, folding her arms across her chest.

"Did you know Damon convinced the nurse down in ER to read out a page for 'Dr. Blondie' over the tanoy yesterday?" Caroline cocked her head sideways, looking across at Elena and smiling.

"Did you know Caroline broke one of our wine glasses last time she was at our house but hid it in the trash?" retorted Damon, maintaining the same upbeat as Caroline's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Did you know that Damon's intern still can't insert a line?" Elena would have opened her mouth to tell Caroline that she did in fact know that, but neither of them were paying her any attention anymore. A sharp tingling spread across her stomach and she felt a jabbing pain in her back as she watched the pair bicker. Rubbing a soothing hand across her lower back she conceded that maybe Damon was right and she shouldn't be leaning over patients trying to insert lines when she was this far on in her pregnancy.

"Did you know that Caroline only got such a good score on her intern exam paper because I gave her extra marks for spelling her name correctly? I know it's a struggle for you, Blondie." he cooed, jutting his bottom lip out and mocking her.

"That is a lie!" screeched Caroline, jabbing a finger accusingly in his direction.

"Guys," chided Elena wearily, not really possessing the energy to mediate another childish debate between these two. "Can you just-" Another wave of sensation swept across her lower belly, this time feeling more like a vice squeezing on her muscles and she let out a small gasp.

"Elena?" asked Damon, immediately dropping his friendly banter with Caroline to rush to her side. Caroline similarly appeared at her side, taking her arm and looking her in the face.  
>"Elena, are you OK?" she asked as the pain started to subside. Elena took a heavy breath in and nodded her head.<p>

"Yeah, I'm fine." she answered, gulping in a few more heavy breaths. "I just felt a bit funny that's all."

"Funny how?" pressed Damon, wrapping a supportive arm around his wife's waist and looking at Caroline over the top of her head.

"I don't know, I've felt kind of off all day but I thought it was just because I was tired. I keep getting these tingling sensations in my stomach every few hours and my back hurts." Damon rubbed across her back and she tensed again, wincing in pain. At that she felt an odd sensation between her legs which took her a few seconds to recognize before she looked up at Damon and Caroline.

"I think my waters just broke." she whispered.

"What?" shouted Damon, looking down between her legs and not noticing any difference. Elena simply nodded rapidly.

"Yeah...yeah, I definitely think my waters just broke." Damon looked over at Caroline, his eyes full of panic as he forgot everything he'd ever learned in med school, everything that they had been told at all the classes they had been to and became a complete wreck.

Caroline, however, jumped into action.  
>"OK, we should get you down to the delivery suite then, Damon, why don't you ring ahead and explain that you're bringing her in? Elena, how far apart would you say these tingling sensations are?" she pressed, leaning down and making her friend look at her.<p>

"I don't know exactly, I thought they were a few hours but the last one wasn't long at all." she replied.

"Damon, tell them that her contractions are still quite far apart but that you're bringing her in anyway, I doubt they'll turn one of their own away," she added as a comment to herself.

"Do you think they're contractions?" asked Elena, suddenly beginning to panic.

"It's most likely that they are, yeah. Sadly, I doubt that they'll stay as 'tingling sensations' for very long. Congratulations, sweetie, you're in labour!" she said excitedly, leading Elena over to a bank of chairs while Damon flipped his phone open.

"This is Dr Salvatore here," he spoke into the device, immediately dropping the playful tone he'd used earlier with Caroline and speaking with authority, "I'm bringing my wife down, her water's just broke, so if you could have a room ready for us, I'd be grateful." There was clearly no argument on the phone as he finished the conversation quickly before heading over to Elena and Caroline. Caroline gave her friend a small hug, and smiled widely at Damon before leaving the pair to go and find Tyler and Bonnie to tell them the news, making sure that Damon knew to contact her with any and all details when he had them.

Damon helped his wife to her feet, wrapping a protective arm around her waist as she groaned uncomfortably. "Come on, Elena."

* * *

><p>"You're hogging him." complained his wife from her bed. He looked across, tearing his eyes from the tiny bundle of joy that was in his arms to see her pouting adorably. Her hair was still stuck to her forehead and she looked an odd grey colour that suggested she needed to sleep for a day, but Damon thought she'd never looked more beautiful.<p>

"I've had him for five minutes, you had him for nine months." he protested, wrapping his arms more tightly around his son, lowering his eyes to him and immediately getting lost in the miniature blue orbs that stared back at him.

"I want him again before Caroline gets here," continued Elena, stretching out her arms. "You know we'll only get him back by force once she has him."

Damon chuckled and made his way over to her bed, he handed their son to her and stretched himself out next to her on the bed, looking between her and the unbelievable miracle that they'd made. Elena turned her head sideways, her eyes brimming with tears, before pressing her lips to his.

"I love you." he murmured between their lips before pulling back and stroking his son's head. "And I love you, Baby Salvatore." he lowered his head and pressed a kiss to the soft down of hair on his head.

"He's so beautiful." cooed Elena.

"Yeah, he's definitely gunna break some hearts." agreed Damon.

"Maybe he'll heal some too," contemplated Elena. "Just like his Dad." She smiled up at Damon before resting her head onto his shoulder, suddenly feeling completely exhausted. Her eyes were beginning to drift closed, the quiet breaths of her son and husband lulling her to sleep when the door to her room was opened cautiously.

"Knock knock!" Caroline, Tyler and Bonnie crept into the room, all grinning at the new parents who had woken up at their entrance. "Oh my God!" squealed Caroline, still managing to keep the noise to a minimum. "He is so precious, can I hold him?" Elena laughed and relinquished up her son to her best friend while Bonnie made her way over to her bed.

"Jeremy said he's on his way over." she told Elena. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine, tired and a bit sore but fine."

"Have you thought of a name?" asked Bonnie, piquing Caroline's interest as she looked up from where she was pointing out his tiny hands to Tyler.

Elena looked across at Damon who said, "We were thinking Grayson, after Elena's father."

Bonnie nodded and smiled.

"I think he'd have really liked that Elena." she said.

"Yeah, me too." agreed the brunette.

"Come on Caroline, fork him over."

Bonnie said, holding out her arms and laughing when Caroline automatically tightened her hold on little Grayson.

"I'm not done yet." she protested and opened her mouth to coo at Tyler when the baby opened his mouth to let out a yawn. She turned her face to her husband, batting her eyelids and jutting out her bottom lip. "Can we get one? Please?" she pleaded.

"Thanks, Damon." said Tyler sarcastically, easing the baby out of Caroline's grasp and handing him to Bonnie.

"Careful with my son, this isn't pass the parcel." Damon spoke out protectively, reaching forward as the baby was transferred from one person to another.

"Damon," chided Elena, placing a hand on his arm and calming him down, smiling at how protective he immediately was of their son.

Damon placed a kiss to the top of her forehead as she snuggled back into his side. "Why don't you try and get some sleep?" he suggested, combing his hands gently through her knotted and tangled hair. She nodded, shuffling down the bed and drifting off to sleep to the sounds of her best friends, her husband and her wonderful son all around her, feeling truly content with everything in her life.

* * *

><p><em>Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for reading this story. I hope that you have gotten even the smallest amount of enjoyment from it.<em>

_Much love to all of you_

_Follow me on twitter: campfire_tales1_

_xxxxxxxx_


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